boil down
boil down {v.}
1. To boil away some of the water from; make less by boiling.
She boiled down the maple sap to a thick syrup.
The fruit juice boiled down until it was almost not good for jelly.
2. To reduce the length of; cut down; shorten.
The reporter boiled the story down to half the original length.
3. To reduce itself to; come down to; be briefly or basically.
The whole discussion boils down to the question of whether the government should fix prices.
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Source: A Dictionary of American Idioms
