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   sift

   /sɪft/

   verb

   • 1. put (a fine or loose substance) through a sieve so as to remove lumps or large particles: "sift the flour into a large bowl" Similar sievestrainscreenfilterriddlepurifyrefinewinnowarchaic:boltgriddle
   • ▪ cause to flow or pass as through a sieve: "Miranda sifted the warm sand through her fingers"
   • ▪ (of snow, ash, etc.) descend lightly or sparsely as if sprinkled from a sieve: "ash began to sift down round them"
   • 2. examine (something) thoroughly so as to isolate that which is most important: "until we sift the evidence ourselves, we can't comment objectively" Similar search throughlook throughrummage throughroot about inroot around inferret (about) inferret (around) inpoke around ingo throughturn overexploreexamineinspectscrutinizepore overinvestigateconduct investigations intoinquire intoconduct an inquiry intodelve intogo intoanalysescreensieveprobedissectreviewassessinformal:rootle around infossick throughrare:roust around in
   • ▪ separate something, especially something to be discarded, from something else: "he asked for streamlined procedures to sift out frivolous applications" Similar separate outfilter outsort outisolatedividepartsegregateput to one sideweed outget rid ofremove

   noun

   • 1. an act of sifting something, especially so as to isolate that which is most important: "a careful archaeological sift must be made through the debris"
   • ▪ an amount of sifted material: "the floor was dusted with a fine sift of flour"

   Word Origin Old Englishsiftan, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch ziften, also to sieve.

   Derivatives

   • 1. sifter noun

   Scrabble Points: 7

   • S

     1

   • I

     1

   • F

     4

   • T

     1

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