From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishdistilldis‧till, distil /dɪˈstɪl/ verb (distilled, distilling) [transitive] 1 HCTto make a liquid such as water or alcohol more pure by heating it so that it becomes a gas and then letting it cool. Drinks such as whisky are made this way distilled water2 to remove a chemical substance from a plant, for example by heating or pressing it3 INFORMATIONto get the main ideas or facts from a much larger amount of informationdistill something into something The notes I had brought back were waiting to be distilled into a book. —distillation /ˌdɪstəˈleɪʃən/ noun [countable, uncountable]→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
distill• The essential is to keep on distilling down, and following ruthlessly the consequences of the dreams.• The most notable of these were the silk, paper, sail canvas, and gin distilling industries.• Water could be extracted by distilling or melting blocks of permafrost.• But it does distill the issue to the question on which tax policy should stand or fall: fairness.• On the various shelves were set items of laboratory equipment: retorts, beakers, distilling tubes and burners.• My task has been to simplify the subject without oversimplifying, to distill without losing essence.Origin distill (1300-1400) Old French distiller, from Latin stillare “to fall in drops” 