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# distill

verb (distill, distills, distilled, distilling)

«distill» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. To make a liquid pure by heating it into steam (vapour) and cooling the steam back into liquid. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/distill/#m1)
2. To make a drink like whisky this way. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/distill/#m2)
3. To take the most important parts of an idea or text and put them in a short form. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/distill/#m3)

### In the lessons

In science lessons distillation separates a liquid from a mixture, such as getting pure water from salty water; in everyday life distilled water goes in irons; in writing, you distil a long story into a summary; phrases: «distilled water», «distil the main points».

### Examples

- We distilled salty water to get pure water. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/distill/#x1)
- Distilled water is used in car batteries and irons. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/distill/#x2)
- Whisky is distilled in Scotland and Ireland. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/distill/#x3)
- Can you distill the story into one sentence? [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/distill/#x4)
- The steam cooled in the tube and became distilled water. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/distill/#x5)
- The teacher helped us distill our ideas into a poster. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/distill/#x6)
- Perfumes are made by distilling flowers. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/distill/#x7)
- Your majesty is well aware that I sometimes amuse myself by distilling very powerful medicines. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/distill/#x8)

### Note

US spelling «distill»; UK spelling «distil» (distils), but both have distilled, distilling. Noun: distillation; a place that makes spirits is a distillery. Science: distillation works because liquids boil at different temperatures; water boils at 100 °C.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «distill» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/distill/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«distill» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/distill.html) on Mova free.