Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To put (flour, for example) through a sieve in order to separate the fine from the coarse particles.
  • intransitive verb To distinguish as if separating with a sieve.
  • intransitive verb To apply by scattering through a sieve.
  • intransitive verb To examine and sort carefully.
  • intransitive verb To make use of a sieve.
  • intransitive verb To pass through a sieve.
  • intransitive verb To make a careful examination.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Something that falls or passes as if from the meshes of a sieve; sifting or sifted material.
  • To cause the finer parts of to pass through a sieve; part or separate the larger and smaller elements of, by shaking in a sieve; bolt: as, to sift meal, powder, sand, or lime; to sift the flour from the bran.
  • To pass or shake through or from anything in the manner of a sieve; pour out or stir up loosely, like particles falling from a sieve: as, to sift sand through the fingers; to sift sugar upon a cake.
  • To act upon or about as if by means of a sieve; examine with close scrutiny; subject to minute analysis: used with a great variety of applications: sometimes with out: as, to sift the good from the bad; to sift out the truth of the matter; to sift a proposition.
  • Synonyms Sift, Bolt, Strain, Screen. Sift is used especially of action by means of a sieve, or of anything serving as a sieve, as an independent instrument; bolt, of the separation of meal and bran, or of the different grades of meal or flour, or the like, by the mechanism of a mill. Strain and screen are used of analogous action upon liquids and coarser solids.
  • To pass or fall loosely or scatteringly, as if through the meshes of a sieve: as, the dust or the snow sifted through the crevices; the light sifts from the clouds.
  • To practise detailed scrutiny or investigation; make close examination.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To separate with a sieve, as the fine part of a substance from the coarse
  • transitive verb To separate or part as if with a sieve.
  • transitive verb To examine critically or minutely; to scrutinize.
  • transitive verb to search out with care, as if by sifting.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To sieve or strain (something).
  • verb To separate or scatter (things) as if by sieving.
  • verb To examine (something) carefully.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb distinguish and separate out
  • verb separate by passing through a sieve or other straining device to separate out coarser elements
  • verb move as if through a sieve
  • verb check and sort carefully

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English siften, from Old English siftan.]

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Examples

  • As the syllables of Apatow's name sift through her mellifluous vocal chords, my pinball brain starts to tilt: You, Catherine Deneuve, are a Judd Apatow fan?

    canada.com Top Stories 2010

  • On Monday, as you no doubt already know, Tina Brown and Barry Diller launched The Daily Beast, a Web site that promises to "sift" and "curate" the unruly Internet.

    A Look Back: The Daily Beast's First 100 Hours 2008

  • The Maidstone 'sift' hasn't actually taken place yet.

    Maidstone and the Weald: Iain Dale Misses Cut? 2007

  • HANSEN: And people knowing about your accident will tend to kind of sift through your next project to find out ` Where do we find these nuggets of his own experience in here? '

    Mark Knopfler, Discovering 'Shangri-La' 2005

  • Some cute things that you used to have to actually go in person to kind of sift through and figure out.

    CNN Transcript Nov 28, 2005 2005

  • And we have to, you know, kind of sift through the information.

    CNN Transcript Mar 12, 2005 2005

  • Does not recall that it was Alger's duty to "sift" cables and digest them and make oral report on contents to Sayre [as Hiss claimed].

    The Hiss Case: An Exchange Levin, David 1976

  • In a later interview, Sayre repeated that he did "not recall that it was Alger's duty to 'sift' cables and digest them and make oral reports on contents."

    The Hiss Case: Another Exchange! Irons, Peter H. 1976

  • · The need to 'sift' the materials coming from China to screen out the bad while encouraging the high end manufacturers that produce superior quality ingredients.

    NutraIngredients-USA RSS 2009

  • We talked about how it let me "sift" through tons of news and noise and pick things out for my friends to read.

    WordPress.com News Robert Scoble 2009

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