Still sb.¹

Also 6 styll, stil, 8 Sc. stiel, 8–9 Sc. stell. [f. STILL v.¹]

  1.  An apparatus for distillation, consisting essentially of a close vessel (alembic, retort, boiler) in which the substance to be distilled is subjected to the action of heat, and of arrangements for the condensation of the vapor produced. Also applied to the alembic or retort separately.

1562.  Bullein, Bulwarke, Bk. Simples (1579), 85 b. A horned Still. Bagpipe Still…. Pelican Still.

1563.  T. Gale, Antidot., II. 87. Then styll them in a common styll, and keepe thys water to your vse.

1577.  B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., IV. 193. Yf you do it in Stils made of Glasse,… your water shal haue the very taste, sauour, and propertie of the hearbe.

1579.  Lyly, Euphues (Arb.), 91. Not unlike to the damaske Rose, which is sweeter in the Still then on the stalke.

1620.  Unton Inventories (1841), 27. In the Still Howse. iiij stills, iij brasse panns, w^th table and presse.

1655.  Culpepper, etc., Riverius, I. i. 8. Put them in a Retort, or Still so called.

1731.  Arbuthnot, Aliments, iii. (1735), 68. This fragrant Spirit is obtain’d from all Plants which are in the least aromatick, by a cold Still.

1785.  Burns, Scotch Drink, xix. Thae curst horse-leeches o’ th’ Excise, Wha mak the Whisky stells their prize!

1818.  Scott, Hrt. Midl., l. A charcoal fire, on which there was a still working.

1885.  C. G. W. Lock, Workshop Rec., Ser. IV. 121/2. All ordinary distilling apparatus consists of 2 parts—one in which the heat is applied to the body to be distilled and vaporised (called the ‘still’).

1899.  E. J. Parry, Chem. Essential Oils, 200. The herbs [sc. mint] are distilled in the green state…. In England most of the stills used hold from 4 to 8 cwt. of herbs.

1901.  Bolas & Leland, Perfumes, 14. None of the domestic stills sold for purifying water … are well suited for making perfumes.

  fig.  1579.  Lyly, Euphues (Arb.), 101. And witte … beeing purified in the styll of wisdome.

1598.  Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. i. II. Impost., 518. God’s grace, whose Still Extracts from dross of thine audacious ill, Three unexpected goods.

1873.  Spencer, Stud. Sociol., xi. 289. When the fermenting mass of political passions and beliefs is put into the electoral still, there distils [etc.].

  b.  Small-still (whisky) Sc. and Anglo-Irish: ‘whisky supposed to be of superior quality, because the product of a small still’ (Jam.).

1822.  [J. Wilson], Lights & Shad. Scott. Life, 382. Taste the whisky, Mr. Gordon—it is sma’ still, and will do harm to no man.

1835.  Carrick, Laird of Logan (1841), 312. Anither class contented themsells with sma’-stell whisky, made intil toddy.

1839.  John Bull, 11 Aug., 381/1. Retiring with his ‘Riverence’ to discuss small-still and the claims of the ‘parsecuted Clargy.’

1856.  Lever, Martins of Cro’ M., x. 87. That is ‘poteen.’… It’s the small still that never paid the King a farthing.

1861.  G. H. Kingsley, Sport & Trav. (1900), 245. A couple of black bottles, which ought to contain whisky of the smallest still.

  2.  † a. = STILL-ROOM. Obs. b. A distillery.

1533.  in Froude’s Hist. Eng. (1870), I. 44. In the Still beside the Gate. Two old road saddles, one bridle, a horse-cloth.

1654.  R. Whitlock, Ζωοτομια, 351. Shee gives that [Physick] a nobler way; more from her Purse than still, or Closet.

1845.  S. Judd, Margaret, I. xv. He engaged his services as night-warden of the Still…. The ‘Still,’ or distillery, was a smutty, clouded, suspicious-looking building.

  3.  A chamber or vessel for the preparation of bleaching-liquor by the action of hydrochloric acid on manganese dioxide, or for the preparation of chlorine, of alkalis, etc.

1853.  in Abridgm. Specif. Patents, Acids, etc. (1869), 377. Improved apparatus for manufacturing chlorine or chlorides. [This consists in substituting for the] common leaden or stone still [… an iron vessel or still, having a lining of fire-bricks or tiles, etc.].

1880.  J. Lomas, Man. Alkali Trade, 272. The liquid hydrochloric acid obtained from the sulphate of soda process is run upon a known weight of manganese binoxide in a ‘still.’ The best form of still is shown in Figs. 188. and 189.

1880.  Lunge, Manuf. Sulphuric Acid & Alkali, III. 26. The stills B, B¹, B², B³ communicate with each other by a distributor C,… which permits any boiler to be isolated without interrupting the distillation in the others.

1910.  Encycl. Brit. (ed. 11), I. 684/1. (art. Alkali) Both these reactions are carried out in tall cylindrical columns or ‘stills,’ consisting of a number of superposed cylinders, having perforated horizontal partitions, and provided with a steam-heating arrangement in the enlarged bottom portion.

  4.  attrib. and Comb., as still-cabin, -cock, -fire, house, nose; still-bottoms, ‘what remains in the still after working the wash into low wines’ (Chambers’ Cycl., Suppl. s.v.); still-hanger (see quot.); still-hunting, the search for illicit stills; still-liquor, bleaching liquor made in a still (see 3); still-man, a workman employed to attend to a still; still-pot, a small still; still-spirit (see quot.); still-tub, the condensing vessel of a still. Also STILL-BURNT, STILL-HEAD, STILL-HOUSE, STILL-ROOM, STILL-WORM.

1753.  Chambers’ Cycl., Suppl., s.v. Wine, The *still-bottoms have many uses. The distillers scald and recover their musty casks with them, and [etc.].

1841.  S. C. Hall, Ireland, I. 117–8. The light curl of smoke issuing from the roof of some illicit *still-cabin.

1652.  in W. M. Williams, Ann. Founders’ Co. (1867), 110. They found … at Evan Evens’s other great *still Cockes filled with Lead and so basely wrought, that [etc.].

1725.  G. Smith, Distilling, 68. You must have for your *Still-fire a large Poker, Fire-shovel, [etc.].

1858.  Simmonds, Dict. Trade, *Still-hanger, an engineer or worker, who fixes the stills for making rum in the West Indies.

1821.  Scott, Lett., in Lockhart (1839), VI. 313. Pray write soon, and give me the history of your *still-huntings.

1844.  G. R. Gleig, Lt. Dragoon, I. ii. 33. There is not one [duty] on which I now look back with more unmixed abhorrence than [printed that] the operation of still-hunting.

1869.  Abridgm. Specif. Patents, Acids, etc. 997. *Still liquor or chloride of manganese obtained in any other way … is treated [etc.].

a. 1864.  Gesner, Coal, Petrol., etc. (1865), 167. One superintendent, two engineers, four *still men, and four helpers.

1725.  G. Smith, Distilling, 71. The worm end, in which your *Still nose is luted.

a. 1824.  in Maidment, N. C. Garland, 54. A *stell-pat they gat, and they brew’d Highland whisky.

1839.  Ure, Dict. Arts, 624. This apparatus consists of only two still-pots of cast iron.

1832.  Trans. Prov. Med. & Surg. Assoc., VI. II. 202. These [cider dregs] were formerly collected and distilled, thus yielding a coarse ardent spirit, vulgarly called *‘still spirits.’

1826.  Henry, Elem. Chem., II. 600. This test is so delicate, that water condensed by the leaden worm of a *still-tub, is sensibly affected by it.