boil down
verbEtymology As an allusion to the technique of reduction or decreasing liquid content of food by boiling much of its water off.
1
To reduce in volume by boiling.
- He boiled the soup down so it wouldn't be so weak.
2
To become reduced (to the most central elements or ingredients: to the essence, core, or implication for action).
- So what this boils down to is that you still owe me that fifty bucks.
- For England, everything now boils down to what happens against Poland on Tuesday.2013 October 11, Daniel Taylor, The Guardian:
3
To reduce (to the most central elements or ingredients: to the essence, core, or implication for action).
- My dissertation is 342 pages long, and I'm required to boil it down to a one-page abstract?!
- Synonyms
- come down to
- Related terms
- boil off