still

Less common meanings

5. 5
   adverb

   Without moving, as in 'stand still'.

   The deer stood perfectly still when it heard our car.

   Hold still while I fix your collar.

   UsageSay sit still, stand still or hold still.

   Similarquietly

   Note
6. 6
   nouncountable

   A single photo, especially one taken from or during the making of a film or video.

   She took stills of the wedding while her brother filmed it.

   This camera can take a still or record a video.

   Similarphotograph, photo, frame, shot

   Note
7. 7
   not sparklingadjective

   Used about a drink that is not fizzy and has no bubbles.

   Would you like still or sparkling water?

   It's a still wine, not a sparkling one.

   UsageStill water is meant to have no bubbles. Flat soda has lost its bubbles.

   Similarflat

   Oppositesparkling, fizzy, carbonated, effervescent

   Note
8. 8
   spirits apparatusnouncountable

   A machine for making a liquid purer by heating and cooling it, especially to make strong alcohol.

   The farmer kept an illegal still in the barn.

   Copper stills gleamed in the distillery hall.

   Similardistillery

   Note
9. 9
   silencenoununcountable

   A period of calm or silence, as in 'the still of the night'.

   A cry broke the still of the night.

   Nothing broke the still of the early morning except a dog barking.

   UsageMostly in the still of the night or morning. In plain writing, use stillness.

   Similarsilence, quiet, calm, hush, peace

   Oppositenoise, din, commotion

   Note
10. 10
    make calmverbtransitive

    To make something calm or quiet.

    Nothing could still the raging sea.

    A word from the teacher stilled the class.

    Similarcalm, quiet, soothe, hush, settle

    Oppositeagitate, stir, excite, disturb

    Note
11. 11
    nounabbreviationellipsis

    Short for still water, water without bubbles, as offered in a restaurant.

    "Would you like sparkling or still?" the waiter asked.

    At the restaurant, we ordered one bottle of still and one of sparkling.

    UsageWaiters ask: still or sparkling?

    Note
12. 12
    distill (spirits)verbtransitive

    To distill, to purify a liquid or make spirits by heating and condensing it.

    The knowledge of stilling is one pretty feat, The waters be wholesome, the charges not great

    1557, Thomas Tusser, A Hundreth Good Pointes of HusbandrieHere, stilling means distilling, heating a liquid to collect its steam.

    Similardistill

    Note
13. 13
    dormantadjectivedated

    In old plant science, dormant, not growing.

    Similardormant, inactive, latent

    Oppositeactive

    Note
14. 14
    continuallyadverbarchaic

    In old poetry, always, all the time.

    Lechery, lechery, still wars and lechery; nothing else holds fashion.

    c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”Here, still means always, again and again.

    I vex my heart with fancies dim: ⁠He still outstript me in the race; ⁠It was but unity of place That made me dream I rank’d with him.

    1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In MemoriamHere, still means always, every time.

    Note
15. 15
    adjectiveobsolete

    In old use, constant, continual, as in 'still practice'.

    By still practice learn to know thy meaning.

    c. 1588, William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”Here, still means constant, without stopping.

    Similarconstant, continual, ongoing, endless, ceaseless

    Note
16. 16
    verbobsoletetransitive

    To drip, or to let a liquid fall one drop at a time.
17. 17
    noun

    In restaurants, a big water heater for making tea and coffee, or the area where tea and coffee are made.
18. 18
    nounslang

    Slang for a person who lives in the Falkland Islands.