stills

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of still.

   Photographers captured stills between takes on the film set.

   The distillery still operates copper stills that are over a century old.

   Note

   Several unrelated things share this plural: frames lifted from a film, photographs set against moving footage, and the apparatus that distills liquids. Context does the sorting. Production stills hang on a studio wall, and copper stills stand in a distillery. In slang the singular also names a Falkland Islander. Don't confuse it with the verb form meaning "calms", which is spelled identically.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of still.

   The conductor's raised hand stills the entire orchestra at once.

   Nightfall stills the busy harbor as the last boats return to dock.

   Note

   Most often it is the verb of quieting, and it takes an object: a look stills a room, a word stills a crowd. The same form also serves the distilling sense, as when a maker stills spirit from a wash. An obsolete use meant simply to trickle or drip. The -s form goes with he, she, it or a singular noun. I, you, we and they take bare still.

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