# still

Pronunciation: say "STIL" /stɪl/

## Adverb

1. Up to the time in question, continuing as in the preceding time.
   - Simple: Continuing to happen or be true at the time you mean, as before, as in 'is it still raining?'
   - _Do you still play the piano?_
   - _He was still asleep at noon._
2. Nevertheless; all the same, in spite of that.
   - Simple: In spite of what has just been said.
   - _The job pays badly. Still, it's a job._
   - _It rained all weekend, but we still managed to enjoy the trip._
5. Without moving; in a motionless state.
   - Simple: Without moving, as in 'stand still'.
   - _The children couldn't sit still through the speech._
   - _Time seemed to stand still._
4. Even; yet: used with comparatives or before 'more', 'another', or 'others' to show a greater degree or a further amount.
   - Simple: To an even greater amount or degree, used with words like taller or more.
   - _Worse still, nobody had a map._
   - _The third attempt was still more expensive._

## Adjective

3. Not moving or making a sound; calm, quiet, and undisturbed.
   - Simple: Not moving, quiet, and calm.
   - _The lake was so still it mirrored the mountains._
   - _Late at night the streets were still, with not a car in sight._
7. Of a drink, not effervescing or sparkling; flat.
   - Simple: Used about a drink that is not fizzy and has no bubbles.
   - _Most table wines are still rather than sparkling._
   - _She prefers still water with meals._

## Noun

6. A single photograph, especially one taken on a film set or a frame taken from a film or video, as opposed to moving footage.
   - Simple: A single photo, especially one taken from or during the making of a film or video.
   - _The director picked a single still from the shoot for the festival poster._
   - _The studio released a few stills from the new film before the trailer came out._
8. An apparatus for distilling liquids, especially alcoholic spirits, by heating and condensing them; also a place where this is done, a distillery.
   - Simple: A machine for making a liquid purer by heating and cooling it, especially to make strong alcohol.
   - _The whisky is made in a traditional pot still._
   - _Revenue officers smashed the stills they found in the hills._
9. A stretch of time marked by calm or silence.
   - Simple: A period of calm or silence, as in 'the still of the night'.
   - _In the still of the morning every sound carried._
   - _In the still before the storm, not a leaf moved._
11. Ellipsis of still water, drinking water without bubbles, or a glass or bottle of it. — Ellipsis of still water (“nonfizzy drinking water”).
   - Simple: Short for still water, water without bubbles, as offered in a restaurant.
   - _The waiter asked whether we wanted still or sparkling._
   - _Just a glass of still for me, thanks._

## Verb

10. To make someone or something calm or quiet.
   - Simple: To make something calm or quiet.
   - _The music stilled the restless crowd._
   - _She tried to still her racing heart._
12. To distill, by heating something to drive off spirit or by evaporating and condensing it in a cooling vessel.
   - Simple: To distill, to purify a liquid or make spirits by heating and condensing it.

## Adjective

13. In botany, dormant or inactive. *(dated)*
   - Simple: In old plant science, dormant, not growing.
15. Going on without stopping; constant, continual or unceasing. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: In old use, constant, continual, as in 'still practice'.

## Adverb

14. Always, invariably, constantly or continually. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: In old poetry, always, all the time.

## Verb

16. To fall in drops, or to let a liquid fall drop by drop; to drip. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To drip, or to let a liquid fall one drop at a time.

## Other meanings

- (noun) In catering, a large water boiler for making tea and coffee, or the area of a restaurant where tea and coffee are made.
- (noun) Someone who lives in the Falkland Islands; a Falkland Islander.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–7, 9, 11, 13–15** — From Middle English 'stille' (motionless), from Old English 'stille' (still, quiet), going back to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning 'to be silent or still', and related to German 'still' and Dutch 'stil'. The Falkland Islander slang dates from 1982: troops told to stop calling islanders 'Bennies', after a TV soap character, called them 'Stills', meaning still Bennies.
**Meaning 8** — Latin stilla ("a drop") gave stillare, which combined with de- to form destillare, with the variant distillare. Passing through Old French distiller, it became Middle English distillen, which was shortened to stillen.
**Meaning 10** — From Old English 'stillan'.
**Meanings 12, 16** — An aphetic form of 'distil', or from Latin 'stillare'.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/still (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).