If an oil or liquid is distilled from a plant, it is produced by a process which extracts the most essential part of the plant. To distil a plant means to produce an oil or liquid from it by this process. The oil is distilled from the berries of this small tree. the art of distilling rose petals + distillation dis·til·la·tion the distillation of rose petals to produce rosewater
If a thought or idea is distilled from previous thoughts, ideas, or experiences, it comes from them. If it is distilled into something, it becomes part of that thing. Reviews are distilled from articles previously published in the main column Roy distills these messages into something powerful + distillation dis·til·la·tion The material below is a distillation of his work