Forms: 5–6 stille, 5–7 styll(e, 6 styl, 6–7 stil, (Pa. t. and pa. pple. stild), 7 stile, 6– still. [Aphetic form of DISTIL v.].
† 1. intr. To trickle down or fall in minute drops: = DISTIL v. 1. Obs.
a. 1300. K. Horn, 676 (Camb. MS.). For Rymenhild weop ille, & horn let þe tires stille.
c. 1407. Lydg., Reason & Sens., 6307. Eke her stremys cristallyn That fro her chekys stylle doun Kam al of deuocioun.
c. 1450. Burgh, Secrees, 1861. Watir is profitable … neer to Citees stillyng as perlys Rounde.
c. 1470. Henryson, Mor. Fab., VIII. (Preach. Swallow), ix. With heit and moysture stilland frome the sky.
1526. R. Whytford, Martiloge, 114 b. Whan the abbot was buryed, oyle stylled out of his graue.
1534. Elyot, Cast. Helthe, II. xxvii. (1541), 43 b. So that he drinke not a greate glutte, but in a littell quantitee, let it stil downe softly into his stomacke, as he sitteth.
1549–62. Sternhold & H., Ps. cii. 9. And mingled haue [I] my drink with teares that fro mine eyes haue stild.
1560. Bible (Geneva), Deut. xxxii. 2. My speache shal stil as doeth the dewe.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., III. ii. 29. If that any drop of slombring rest Did chaunce to still into her weary spright.
1596. Lodge, Wits Miserie, P j b. Lying continually on my backe, water stilleth vpon mine eies, yet I for sloth sake forsake not my bed.
c. 1690. Archibald, in Macfarlane’s Geogr. Collect. (S.H.S.), III. 189. The Water stills down into the Pit, where with they then fill their Pans.
† b. Of a person: To melt into tears. Obs.
1412–20. Lydg., Troy Bk., IV. 3614. And in-to terys he gan stille and reyne, As he wolde for verray sorwe deye.
† 2. trans. To exude, discharge, or give forth in minute drops. Obs.
1412–1530. Myrr. our Ladye (1873), 285. The braunches of the bawlme tree when they are cutte, they stylle moste vertuous and swete lyquore.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 183. Whiche neuer ceased to styll the swete balme of mercy & pite.
1610. Heywood, Golden Age, III. i. With rage and fury fright pale Pity hence, And drown him in the sweat your bodies still.
1646. Crashaw, Steps, Another on Death Herrys, 35. Wet with teares still’d from the eyes of the flinty Destinyes.
a. 1660. Contemp. Hist. Irel. (Ir. Archæol. Soc.), II. 60. More reason should perswade me to doe it, then Dido the queene dowager of Cartagh to stile continually waterie pearles from her charminge lookes for the absence of Eneas.
1693. Dryden, Juvenal, iii. 122. His once unkem’d, and horrid Locks, behold, Stilling sweet Oyl.
† b. To cause to distil or fall in drops. Obs.
1576. Baker, Gesner’s Jewell of Health, 131 b. If you styll one drop into the water.
1598. Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. ii. IV. Columnes, 703. For you my smoothest quill His sweetest hony on this Book should still.
c. 1611. Chapman, Iliad, XIX. 36. She, with her faire hand, still’d into, the nostriis of his friend, Red Nectar, and Ambrosia.
1624. Quarles, Job Militant, xvii. N 2. He pricks the Clouds, stils downe the raine by drops.
1719. D’Urfey, Pills, IV. 74. A Morn of May, which drops of Dew down stilleth.
c. fig. To instil. Obs.
1551. Udall, Erasm. Par. Matt. iii. 1. That the thyng whiche euer should be beleued, might by lytle and lytle be stilled [1548 instylled] and put into the hartes of men.
3. To subject to the process of distillation: = DISTIL v. 4. Now rare or Obs.
a. 1400. Stockh. Med. MS., ii. 455, in Anglia, XVIII. 318. Do stille þese erbes be hemselwe.
c. 1450. ME. Med. Bk. (Heinrich), 102. After stille hem in a stillatorye.
1573. Tusser, Husb. (1878), 96. Herbes to still in Sommer.
1646. Quarles, Judgem. & Mercy (1651), 1. My recreations shall be to still Pleasure into a Quintessence.
1647. R. Josselin, Diary (Camden, 1908), 42. Wee had plenty of roses; stilled some May 22.
1694. Crowne, Married Beau, IV. 52. I’ll see … Whether it be a Flower or a Weed, Which you are stilling in this Limbeck here.
c. 1770. Mrs. Glasse, Compl. Confectioner, 274. Then still them in a limbeck with a slow fire, and take care your still does not burn.
† b. transf. To extract the essence of (meat). Also intr. of the meat. Obs.
1584. Cogan, Haven Health, clvii. 133. When it hath stilled so many houres, then take out the earthen pot,… streine out the broth [etc.].
1591. A. W., Bk. Cookrye, 11 b. To still a cock for a weake body that is consumed. Take a red Cock that is not too olde, and beate him to death, and … fley him and quarter him in small peeces [etc.].
4. To extract or produce by distillation. Obs.
a. 1400. Stockh. Med. MS., ii. 448, in Anglia, XVIII. 318. To styllyn [þer]of water for eyne is good.
1483. Cath. Angl., 364/2. To Stille waters, stillare, distillare.
1530. Palsgr., 736/1. Stylle some Damaske water, for it is good.
1534. Elyot, Cast. Helthe, II. viii. (1541), 24. In al cholerike feuers, the decoction of this herbe, or the water therof stilled, is right expedient.
1587. Marlowe, 1st Pt. Tamburl., V. ii. 1946. (Brooke), The heauenly Quintessence they still From their immortall flowers of Poesy.
c. 1600[?]. Distr. Emperor, II. i. in Bullen, Old Pl. (1884), III. 186. All the poysons and sharpe corrosyves Styll’d in the lymbecke of damde pollycie.
1660. T. Watson, in Spurgeon, Treas. David (1874), IV. 459. When we give him the soul in a duty,… by a holy chemistry we still out the spirits.
1681. R. Knox, Hist. Ceylon, 146. Others stilled Rack to sell.
1706–7. Farquhar, Beaux’ Strat., II. i. Brewing of Diet-drinks, and stilling Rose-mary-Water.
† b. To still away: to remove or drive off by distillation. Obs.
1628. Donne, Serm. (1649), II. 395. It is a miserable Alchimy and extracting of spirits, that stills away the spirit, the soule it selfe.
† c. To still forth: To yield when distilled. Obs.
1605. Timme, Quersit., I. v. 21. Those saltes, being put into a retort … with a receiver, stilleth forth a volatile salt.
† d. intr. To still out: To issue from something that is being distilled. Obs.
1799. G. Smith, Laboratory, I. 436. Every drop of water, which may happen to be mixed with the wine, will still out.
† e. absol. To practise distillation. Obs.
a. 1668. Lady Lyttelton, in Hatton Corr. (Camden), 54. I want … a house keeper that can preserve and still well.
