[1] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

sift \sift\, v. t. imp.  p. p. sifted; p. pr.  vb. n.
   sifting. as. siftan, from sife sieve. root151a. see
   sieve.
   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.
      1913 webster

   2. to separate or part as if with a sieve.
      1913 webster

            when yellow sands are sifted from below,
            the glittering billows give a golden show. --dryden.
      1913 webster

   3. to examine critically or minutely; to scrutinize.
      1913 webster

            sifting the very utmost sentence and syllable.
                                                  --hooker.
      1913 webster

            opportunity i here have had
            to try thee, sift thee.               --milton.
      1913 webster

            let him but narrowly sift his ideas.  --i. taylor.
      1913 webster

   to sift out, to search out with care, as if by sifting.
      1913 webster
see also:
sifted sifting sieve to sift out 

[2] : WordNet (r) 2.0

sift
     v 1: move as if through a sieve; "the soldiers sifted through the
          woods"
     2: separate by passing through a sieve or other straining
        device to separate out coarser elements; "sift the flour"
        syn: sieve, strain
     3: check and sort carefully; "sift the information" syn: sieve
     4: distinguish and separate out; "sift through the job
        candidates" syn: sieve
see also:
sieve strain 

[3] : Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

150 moby thesaurus words for "sift":
   air, analyze, appraise, assess, assort, bolt, canvass, catalog,
   categorize, choose, choose out, clarify, class, classify, clear,
   collate, comb, comment upon, consider, contradistinguish,
   controvert, cordon, cordon off, cull, cull out, deal with, debate,
   decide between, decrassify, deliberate, deliberate upon,
   delve into, demarcate, demark, depurate, differentiate, dig into,
   discourse about, discriminate, discuss, distill, distinguish,
   divide, draw the line, edulcorate, elute, essentialize, evaluate,
   examine, excerpt, exchange views, explore, extract, factor, fathom,
   filter, filtrate, gauge, ghettoize, gin, glean, go into, gradate,
   grade, group, handle, handpick, identify, indagate, inquire into,
   insulate, investigate, isolate, keep apart, keep aside,
   knock around, lay aside, leach, lixiviate, look into,
   make a selection, mark the interface, pass under review, peer into,
   percolate, pick, pick out, plumb, poke into, probe, prospect,
   pry into, purify, put aside, quarantine, rank, rap, reason,
   reason about, reason the point, rectify, refine, review, riddle,
   screen, screen out, scrutinize, search into, seclude, segregate,
   select, separate, set a limit, set apart, set aside, set off,
   sever, severalize, sieve, sieve out, sift out, single out, size,
   sort, sort out, sound, spiritualize, split hairs, strain, study,
   subdivide, sublimate, sublime, subordinate, subtilize, take up,
   talk, talk about, talk of, talk over, thrash, thrash out, thresh,
   thresh out, treat, try, ventilate, weed out, weigh, winnow

[4] : Virtual Entity of Relevant Acronyms (Version 1.9, June 2002)

sift
     software implemeted fault tolerance hift
     
     

[5] : The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03)

sift
     
        share internal fortran translator.  translation utility
        designed for converting fortran ii to fortran iv.  the word
        "sift" was often used as a verb to describe converting code
        from one language to another.  sammet 1969, p.153.
     
     

Sift >> S Words
Sift, definition of term: Sift
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