To purify a liquid by heating and condensing its vapors; to extract the essential or most important parts of something.
From Latin distillare (to drip down), from dis- (down) + stillare (to drop). Medieval alchemists used this process to separate pure substances from mixtures.
Distillation is one of humanity's oldest chemical techniques—ancient Egyptians and Arabs perfected it for perfumes and medicines, making it the gateway technology to modern chemistry.
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