WordWeight : Weighing the Words

Pronunciation : Sift
Part of Speech : v.
Etymology : [AS. siftan, from sife sieve. sq. root151a. See Sieve.]
Definition : 1. To separate with a sieve, as the fine part of a substance from the coarse; as, to sift meal or flour; to sift powder; to sift sand or lime.

2. To separate or part as if with a sieve. When yellow sands are sifted from below, The glittering billows give a golden show. Dryden.

3. 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.

t. [imp. & p. p. Sifted; p. pr. & vb. n. Sifting.]
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913