distil

/dis'til/ Cách viết khác : (distill) /dis'til/

Thân thiện

The chemist carefully distils the essential oil from the lavender.

Definition

1. Verb:
   • To purify or concentrate a liquid by heating it to create vapor and then cooling the vapor to collect the purified liquid: This is the primary meaning, referring to the process of distillation used to separate components of a mixture based on different boiling points.
   • To extract the essential meaning or most important aspects of something: Used figuratively to mean condensing complex information into its core ideas.
   • To give off or release something in small drops or as a vapor: To cause a liquid to fall in drops or to undergo a phase change from gas to liquid.

Usage and Examples

• Verb (Literal, Chemical Process):
  • They distil seawater to make it drinkable. (They purify seawater by distillation to make it drinkable.)
  • This apparatus is used to distil alcohol from fermented grain. (This apparatus is used to extract alcohol from fermented grain through distillation.)
• Verb (Figurative, Extracting Essence):
  • The book distils years of research into a single chapter. (The book condenses years of research into its most important points in a single chapter.)
  • Her wisdom is distilled from a lifetime of experience. (Her wisdom is the concentrated essence extracted from a lifetime of experience.)
• Verb (To Fall in Drops or Condense):
  • The cool surface caused the moisture in the air to distil into water droplets. (The cool surface caused the moisture to condense from vapor into liquid drops.)

Advanced Usage

• "To distil out": To separate or extract a specific substance or quality through distillation.
  • The chemist sought to distil out the active compound from the plant extract.
• "Distilled" (Adjective):
  • Referring to a liquid that has undergone distillation. Distilled water is a common example.
  • Used figuratively to describe something pure, concentrated, or essential. Distilled wisdom refers to pure, fundamental wisdom.

Variants and Related Words

• Distill: The preferred spelling in American English. "Distil" is common in British English.
• Distillation (n): The process or apparatus used for distilling.
  • The distillation of crude oil produces various fuels.
• Distiller (n): A person or company that distills liquids, especially alcoholic spirits.
• Distillate (n): The purified liquid product obtained from distillation.

Synonyms

• Purify: To remove contaminants (often used in similar contexts for liquids).
• Extract: To remove or obtain a substance (can be used literally or figuratively).
• Condense: To change from a gas to a liquid; to make more concise (shares the "making denser" idea).
• Refine: To improve by removing impurities (often overlaps with the purification sense).

Phrasal Verbs / Common Constructions

• Distil down to: To reduce something to its most basic or essential part.
  • The long debate finally distilled down to a question of cost. (The debate was ultimately reduced to its core issue: cost.)

Related Idioms

• The distilled essence of: The purest, most concentrated form of something.
  • His speech was the distilled essence of the movement's philosophy. (His speech captured the pure, core philosophy of the movement.)

Học thuật

Verb

1. give off (a liquid)
   • The doctor distilled a few drops of disinfectant onto the wound
2. undergo the process of distillation
3. extract by the process of distillation
   • distill the essence of this compound
4. undergo condensation; change from a gaseous to a liquid state and fall in drops
   • water condenses
   • The acid distills at a specific temperature

Từ đồng nghĩa

• distill
• extract
• condense