sift

Definitions

1. 1.To separate or part as if with a sieve. When yellow sands are sifted from below, The glittering billows give a golden show. Dryden.
2. 2.To examine critically or minutely; to scrutinize. Sifting the very utmost sentence and syllable. Hooker. Opportunity I here have had To try thee, sift thee. Milton. Let him but narrowly sift his ideas. I. Taylor. To sift out, to search out with care, as if by sifting.

Source: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).

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• What does "sift" mean?

Reverse-dictionary questions

Definition-first questions whose answer is sift.

• What is to separate or part as if with a sieve. When yellow sands are sifted from below, The glittering billows give a golden show. Dryden called?