distillation

From Anglo-Norman distillacioun, from Latin distillātiō, distillātiōnem.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /dɪstɪˈleɪʃən/
• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

distillation (countable and uncountable, plural distillations)

1. The act of falling in drops, or the act of pouring out in drops.
2. That which falls in drops.
3. (chemistry, chemical engineering) The separation of more volatile parts of a substance from less volatile ones by heating and condensing.
   1. Purification through repeated or continuous distilling; rectification.
   2. (petroleum) Separation into specific hydrocarbon groups; fractionation.
4. The substance extracted by distilling.
   • 1599, William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor, III. v. 104:

     to be stopped in, like a strong distillation, with stinking / clothes that fretted in their own grease.

   • 1609, William Shakespeare, Sonnet 5:

     Then, were not summer's distillation left,

     A liquid prisoner pent in walls of glass ...