distillation

English

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distillation

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Middle English distillacioun, from Anglo-Norman distillacioun, from Latin distīllātiōnem, accusative of distīllātiō.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /dɪstɪˈleɪʃən/

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• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˌdɪstɪˈleɪʃən/

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• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /dɪstɪˈlæɪʃən/
• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Noun

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 evaporation and condensation.
   1. Purification through repeated or continuous distilling; rectification.
   2. (petrochemistry) Separation of petroleum into specific hydrocarbon groups; fractionation.
4. The substance extracted by distilling.
   • c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , line 104:

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

   • 1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 5”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. , London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC:

     Then, were not summer's distillation left,
     A liquid prisoner pent in walls of glass […]

Derived terms

Translations

French

Pronunciation

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Noun

distillation f (plural distillations)

1. distillation

Further reading

• “distillation”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.