Английский словарь американских идиом - 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./