Distill
To extract the essence of something by heating and condensing — and, metaphorically, to reduce something complex to its core.
Origin
Distillation is one of the oldest chemical techniques — boil a mixture, catch and re-condense the vapor, separate the lighter (more volatile) component from the heavier. The Mesopotamians did it for perfumes by 2000 BCE; Arab alchemists refined it into the still that produced alcohol and distilled spirits; the same basic apparatus now produces gasoline at refineries. The point is selective separation by boiling point.
Modern usage
Hugely productive metaphor: 'distill the report into three bullets,' 'a distillation of his career.' Often used by writers and editors when they want to flatter precision. The word always implies loss as well as gain — what's left behind is the heavier, less useful stuff.
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