Sift

Definition: Sift

Sift

Verb

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".

3. Check and sort carefully; "sift the information".

4. Distinguish and separate out; "sift through the job candidates".

Date "sift" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1321. (references)

Note: Sift \Sift\, transitive verb. [imperative past participle Sifted; present participle verb or noun Sifting.]. (references)

Domain	Definition
Computing	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. Source: The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted.
Entry	Source	Expression	Field
SIFT	English	Sperm intrafallopian transfer	N/A
SIFT	Italian	Trasferimento del liquido seminale nella tuba	N/A
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

Synonyms: Sift

Synonyms: sieve (v), strain (v). (additional references)

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Arrangement	Verb: reduce to order, bring into order; introduce order into; rally. arrange, dispose, place, form; put in order, set in order, place in order; set out, collocate, pack, marshal, range, size, rank, group, parcel out, allot, distribute, deal; cast the parts, assign the parts; dispose of, assign places to; assort, sort; sift, riddle; put to rights, set to rights, put into shape, put in trim, put in array; apportion.
Choice	Select; pick and choose; pick out, single out; cull, glean, winnow; sift the chaff from the wheat, separate the chaff from the wheat, winnow the chaff from the wheat; pick up, pitch upon; pick one's way; indulge one;s fancy.
Cleanness	Sift, winnow, pick, weed, comb, rake, brush, sweep.
Discrimination	Verb: discriminate, distinguish, severalize; recognize, match, identify; separate; draw the line, sift; separate the chaff from the wheat, winnow the chaff from the wheat; separate the men from the boys; split hairs, draw a fine line, nitpick, quibble.
Inquiry	Examine, study, consider, calculate; dip into, dive into, delve into, go deep into; make sure of, probe, sound, fathom; probe to the bottom, probe to the quick; scrutinize, analyze, anatomize, dissect, parse, resolve, sift, winnow; view in all its phases, try in all its phases; thresh out.
Simpleness	Sift, winnow, bolt, eliminate; exclude, get rid of; clear; purify; (clean); disentangle; (disjoin).
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

Domain	Usage
Screenplays	You sift through the detritus, you read the terrain, you search for signs of passing, for the scent of your prey and then you hunt them down (Heat; writing credit: Michael Mann)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Domain	Title
Books	Juegos Con Agua Y Arena/Waterworks: Sift and Shout (reference) Sift and Shout: Sand Play Activities for Children Ages 1-6 (reference) Soft Sift (reference) To Sift Through Bitter Ashes (The Grails Covenant , No 1) (reference) (more book examples)

Music	Sift and Splash (reference) (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Thumbnail	Description & Credit	Thumbnail	Description & Credit
	Beginning to sift through the dredge haul on a clam dredger. Credit: Fisheries.		Easter Washington University students sift excavated materials from rock shelter at Fishtrap Management Area, WA. Credit: Rich Bailey.
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

Title	Author	Quote
Grapes of Wrath	Steinbeck, John	Sometimes a fella got to sift the law.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Subject	Topic	Quote
Health		Every day, your kidneys process about 200 quarts of blood to sift out about 2 quarts of waste products and extra water. (references)
		Each about the size of a fist, these organs act as sophisticated filters for the body. They process about 400 quarts of blood a day to sift out about 2 quarts of waste products and extra water that eventually leave the body as urine. (references)
Lexicography	Devil's Dictionary	LEAD, n. A heavy blue-gray metal much used in giving stability to light lovers -- particularly to those who love not wisely but other men's wives. Lead is also of great service as a counterpoise to an argument of such weight that it turns the scale of debate the wrong way. An interesting fact in the chemistry of international controversy is that at the point of contact of two patriotisms lead is precipitated in great quantities. Hail, holy Lead! -- of human feuds the great And universal arbiter; endowed With penetration to pierce any cloud Fogging the field of controversial hate, And with a sift, inevitable, straight, Searching precision find the unavowed But vital point. Thy judgment, when allowed By the chirurgeon, settles the debate. O useful metal! -- were it not for thee We'd grapple one another's ears alway: But when we hear thee buzzing like a bee We, like old Muhlenberg, "care not to stay." And when the quick have run away like pellets Jack Satan smelts the dead to make new bullets.
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

"Sift" is generally used as a lexical verb (infinitive) -- approximately 58.89% of the time. "Sift" is used about 90 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Lexical Verb (infinitive)	58.89%	53	46,657
Lexical Verb (base form)	36.67%	33	60,273
Noun (singular)	4.44%	4	175,879
Total	100.00%	90	N/A

Expressions using "sift": sift out ♦ sift smth. to the bottom ♦ sift through ♦ To sift out. Additional references.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Language		Translations for "sift"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Albanian		sit (bolt, sieve), shoshit (riddle, screen, winnow), shoshë (cribble, riddle, screen, sieve), shosh (screen, sieve), analizoj (analyse, analyze, assay, break down, dissect, survey, take stock, test). (various references)

Arabic		‏محص, ‏نخل (sieve, winnow), ‏غربل (garble, riddle, screen, screen out, weed, winnow), ‏تخير. (various references)

Bulgarian		ръся (spray, sprinkle), разграничавам (contradistinguish, delimit, delimitate, demarcate, differentiate, discriminate), проучвам основно (plough through), процеждам се (ooze, percolate), прониквам (come through, penetrate, percolate, perforate, pervade, seep, soak, strike, sweep in, work in), пресявам (bolt, griddle, riddle, screen, sieve, winnow), поръсвам (dredge, dust, perfuse, powder, sprinkle). (various references)

Chinese		过滤 (Filtered, Filtering, Filtrated, Filtrating, leach, Percolate, Percolated, Percolating, Sifted, sifting). (various references)

Czech		tříbit (crystallize), provìřit, prosít (sieve). (various references)

Dutch		ziften (dockage, riddling, screening), zeven (seven). (various references)

Esperanto		kribri. (various references)

Faeroese		síla, sálda. (various references)

Farsi		وارسی کردن (Investigate), الک کردن (Garble, Screen, Sieve), الک (Harp, Scalp, Sieve), بیختن . (various references)

Finnish		seuloa (pick out, separate). (various references)

French		tamiser. (various references)

Frisian		souje. (various references)

German		sieben (pick and choose, riddle, screen, seven, sieve, sifting, to riddle, to sieve, to sift). (various references)

Greek		κοσκινίζω (bolt, riddle, screen, sieve), εξετάζω λεπτομερώσ (go through, overhaul, scrutinize), ψιλοκοσκινίζω. (various references)

Hebrew		לכבור (riddle), לבזוק (scatter, sprinkle, strafe, strew), לס� ן (filter, filtrate, percolate, sieve, strain, strain off, winnow), ל� פות (comb, riddle, scrutinize, sieve, winnow). (various references)

Hungarian		szitál (drizzle, pulsate, riddle, sieve, to drizzle, to garble, to haze, to jig, to screen, to sift, winnow), rostál (to bolt, to fan, to riddle, to screen, to winnow, winnow). (various references)

Indonesian		menyaring (filter, refine), mengayak. (various references)

Italian		SIFT (Sperm intrafallopian transfer), setacciare (comb, riddle, search, sieve), vagliare (examine, riddle, screen, weigh, winnow), trasferimento del liquido seminale nella tuba (Sperm intrafallopian transfer). (various references)

Japanese Kanji		鋤簾 (bamboo winnow used to sift earth or sand), 篩い落とす (to screen or eliminate, to sift out), 篩いに掛ける (to sieve, to sift), 篩い分ける (to screen, to sift), ふるいに掛ける (abundant, awkward, baggy, by chance, casually, complaining, drifting, floating, fully, grumbling, hmm, huh, humph, in plenty, lavish, loose-fitting or baggy, pish, plentiful, pshaw, to sieve, to sift, too big, weightlessness). (various references)

Japanese Katakana		ふるいおとす (to screen or eliminate, to shake off, to sift out), ふるいにかける (to sieve, to sift), ふるいわける (to screen, to sift), じょれ�" (bamboo winnow used to sift earth or sand). (various references)

Korean		체로 치십시�". (various references)

Manx		reealley (punishment, riddle, riddling, shake, shake down, sieve, sifting), creearey (pan, riddle, sieve). (various references)

Maya		chaacht (to sift). (various references)

Papiamen		skuri, sefta (sieve), kola. (various references)

Pig Latin		iftsay.(various references)

Portuguese		peneirar (bolt), joeirar (winnow). (various references)

Romanian		trece (bequeath, blow over, call, call on, cease, clear away, cross, die, diminish, disappear, elapse, enter, flow, Ford, get in, get under, go, go by, go on, insert, jot down, lapse, lapse away, pass, pass away, pass by, pass off, pass on, pop, reeve, register, roll, sail, slip away, slip by, transmit, traverse, wear), iscodi (fabricate, poke and pry, reconnoitre, spy), examina amãnunţit, controla (audit, check, control, direct, examine, govern, inspect, intercept, observe, oversee, prove, restrain, rule, supervise, test, verify), cerne (bolt, distinguish, drizzle, riddle, screen, sieve, spit), cerceta (analyse, analyze, anatomize, ask, canvass, case, consider, consult, cross-question, delve, dip into, examine, excogiate, explore, inspect, introspect, investigate, look at, look into, look over, look through, overlook, peer, pursue, question, reconnoitre, research, screen, scrutinize, search, search into, seek, sound, study, survey, test, try, visit), alege (appear, become, choose, churn, cull, decide, distinguish, elect, extract, glean, Peel, pick, pick on, pick out, refuse, reject, remain, result, return, screen, select, separate, shell, single out, sort, sunder, take one's choice, winnow). (various references)

Russian		просеивать (sieve, sieves). (various references)

Scottish		criathair. (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		sejati (sieve, sow, spread), rešetati (shower), proveriti (audit, check, check on, check out, check over, double check, screen, test, verify), prosejati (griddle, sieve), ispitati (assay, enquire into, examine, investigate, look into, search, test). (various references)

Spanish		tamizar a, filtrarse (filtrate, leak, leak in, leak out, percolate, permeate, seep), examinar cuidadosamente (sift through), espolvorear (dredge, dust, duster, powder, sprinkle), entresacar (cull, pick out, thin out), cribar (riddle, screen, seven), cernir, cerner (bolt, sieve). (various references)

Sranan		dorodoro (quite, sieve, very, very much), doro (arrive, door, end up, get). (various references)

Swedish		sålla (riddle, screen, sieve, winnow), sikta (bolt, point, screen, sieve, sight, take aim, target), granska (audit, check, correct, examine, eye, go through, inspect, overlook, peruse, review, scan, screen, scrutinize, vet, view). (various references)

Thai		กรอง (leach, sieve), วินิจฉัย. (various references)

Turkish		titizlikle araştırmak, kevgirle serpmek, kalburdan geçirmek (riddle, screen, sieve), iyiyi kötüyü ayırmak, ince eleyip sık dokumak (be too fussy, be too particular, fuss, go over, go over smth. with a fine comb, go through, niggle, pick holes in, pick over, refine, scrutinize, split, split hairs), gözden geçirmek (browse, canvass, check, check up, check up on, dip into, examine into, flick through, have a look at, look at, look over, look through, pass smth. in review, review, revise, see over), elemek (annihilate, bolt, eliminate, riddle, screen, sieve). (various references)

Turkmen		elemek. (various references)

Ukrainian		фільтрувати (decant, drain, filter, filtrate, infiltrate), просіватися, просівати (riddle, sieve, winnow). (various references)

Welsh		rhidyllio (riddle), peillio (bolt), nithio (winnow), gogrwn (riddle). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Language	Period	Translations
Latin	500 BCE-Modern	cernere, cerno, cribellare, cribrans, cribrare, cribraret, cribro. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Language	Date	Source	Luke Chapter 22, Verse 31
Greek (transliterated)	250 BC	Septuagint	Eipen de o kurioV simwn simwn idou o satanaV exhthsato umaV tou siniasai wV ton siton
Latin	405	Vulgate	Ait autem Dominus Simon Simon ecce Satanas expetivit vos ut cribraret sicut triticum
Old English	990	West Saxon	þa cwæð drihten: Simon simon. nu satanas gyrnde þæt he eow hridrude swa swa hwæte;
Middle English	1395	Wyclif	And the Lord seide to Symount, Symount, lo, Satanas hath axid you, that he schulde ridile as whete; but Y haue preyede for thee,
Renaissance English	1526	Tyndale	And the Lorde sayde: Simon Simon beholde Satan hath desired you to sifte you as it were wheate:
Jacobean English	1611	King James	And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:
Victorian English	1833	Webster	And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:
Basic English	1964	Ogden	Simon, Simon, Satan has made a request to have you, so that he may put you to the test as grain is tested:
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Language	Luke Chapter 22, Verse 31
Cebuano	"Simon, Simon, tan-awa! Gipangayo kamo ni Satanas, sa pagbaton kaninyo aron iya kamong alig-igon ingon sa trigo;
Croatian	"� imune, � imune, evo Sotona zaiska da vas prorešeta kao pšenicu.
Danish	Men Herren sagde: "Simon, Simon! se, Satan begærede eder for at sigte eder som Hvede.
Dutch	En de Heere zeide: Simon, Simon, ziet, de satan heeft ulieden zeer begeerd om te ziften als de tarwe;
Finnish	Simon, Simon, katso, saatana on tavoitellut teitä valtaansa, seuloakseen teitä niinkuin nisuja;
French	Le Seigneur dit: Simon, Simon, Satan vous a réclamés, pour vous cribler comme le froment.
German	Der HERR aber sprach: Simon, Simon, siehe, der Satanas hat euer begehrt, daß er euch möchte sichten wie den Weizen;
Haitian Creole	Simon, Simon, koute: Satan mande pouvwa pou l' pase nou tout nan laye, tankou grenn y'ap vannen.
Hungarian	Monda pedig az Úr: Simon! Simon! ímé a Sátán kikért titeket, hogy megrostáljon, mint a búzát;
Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari	"Simon, Simon, dengarkan! Iblis sudah diberi izin untuk menguji kalian; seperti gandum dipisahkan dari kulit sehingga yang baik dipisahkan dari yang buruk.
Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama	"Hai Simon, Simon! Tengoklah Iblis sangat meminta kamu, hendak menampi kamu seperti gandum.
Italian	Simone, Simone, ecco satana vi ha cercato per vagliarvi come il grano;
Latvian	Un Kungs sacîja: Sîman! Sîman! Lûk, sâtans meklç jûs sijât kâ kvieðus,
Maori	E Haimona, e Haimona, na, kua inoi a Hatana kia riro koe i a ia, kia tataritia ai koe e ia, ano he witi:
Norwegian	Simon! Simon! se, Satan krevde å få eder i sin vold for å sikte eder som hvete;
Portuguese	Simão, Simão, eis que Satanás vos pediu para vos cirandar como trigo;
Rumanian	Domnul a zis: ,,Simone, Simone, Satana v`a cerut sq vq cearnq ca grkul.
Shuar	Nuyá Uunt Jesus Tímiayi, "Nekaatá, Semunká. Trikiu neré Tsatsamátniua aintsan Satanás atumi Enentáin Páchim Enentáimtikramprataj tusa seayi.
Swahili	"Simoni, Simoni! Sikiliza! Shetani alitaka kuwapepeta ninyi kama mtu anavyopepeta ngano.
Swedish	Simon, Simon! Se, Satan har begärt att få eder i sitt våld, för att kunna sålla eder såsom vete;
Uma	Oti toe, Pue' Yesus mpololitai Simon Petrus, na'uli': "Ee', Simon! Epe: Magau' Anudaa' rawai' loga mposori-koi omea. Hewa pae to ratapi, hewa toe wo'o mpai' kagaga-na pesori to mporumpa' -koi.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Derivations
	Words beginning with "sift": sifted, sifter, sifters, sifting, siftings, sifts. (additional references)
	Words ending with "sift": presift, resift. (additional references)
	Words containing "sift": presifted, presifting, presifts, resifted, resifting, resifts, unsifted. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Sift" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: cift, ift, isfet, jift, kift, Qift, saft, safty, saif, scif, seft, senft, Seyfi, sf, Sfii, sfim, sfit, sfs, siet, sife, Sifh, sifi, sifo, siftd, sifte, siftn, siftt, sifty, sifu, sigt, siht, simt, sipt, sitt, sixt, skift, snifty, sofit, spift, Srifi, suftt, uift, zeft, zift. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "sift" (pronounced si"ft)
3	-i" f t	adrift, Clift, drift, gift, lift, miffed, rift, shift, shrift, sniffed, stiffed, swift, thrift.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Direct Anagrams: fist, fits.
	Words within the letters "f-i-s-t"
	-1 letter: fit, ifs, its, sit, tis.
	-2 letters: if, is, it, si, ti.
	Words containing the letters "f-i-s-t"
	+1 letter: feist, fiats, first, fists, flits, foist, frits, gifts, lifts, rifts, shift, sifts, stiff, swift, tiffs.
	+2 letters: afrits, befits, clifts, drifts, faints, faiths, feints, feists, feisty, fetish, fiesta, fifths, fights, filets, filths, finest, firsts, firths, fisted, fistic, fliest, flints, flirts, flites, foists, fortis, friths, fritts, fruits, fustic, grifts, infest, itself, misfit, motifs, muftis, refits, resift, rifest, shifts, shifty, shrift, sifted, sifter, soffit, softie, stiffs, stifle, strife, swifts, tafias, unfits.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.

Expression	Frequency per Day
sift	26
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Sift

Definition: Sift

Sift

Verb

Specialty Definition: Sift

Computing

Abbreviations & Acronyms: Sift

SIFT

SIFT

Synonyms: Sift

Synonyms within Context: Sift

Arrangement

Choice

Cleanness

Discrimination

Inquiry

Simpleness

Crosswords: Sift

Modern Usage: Sift

Screenplays

Commercial Usage: Sift

Books

Music

Image Slideshow: Sift

Illustrations:Sift

More pictures...

Photo Album: Sift

Use in Literature: Sift

Grapes of Wrath

Steinbeck, John

Non-Fiction Usage: Sift

Health

Lexicography

Devil's Dictionary

Usage Frequency: Sift

Expressions: Sift

Frequency of Internet Keywords: Sift

sift

Modern Translation: Sift

Albanian

Arabic

Bulgarian

Chinese

Czech

Dutch

Esperanto

Faeroese

Farsi

Finnish

French

Frisian

German

Greek

Hebrew

Hungarian

Indonesian

Italian

Japanese Kanji

Japanese Katakana

Korean

Manx

Maya

Papiamen

Pig Latin

Portuguese

Romanian

Russian

Scottish

Serbo-Croatian

Spanish

Sranan

Swedish

Thai

Turkish

Turkmen

Ukrainian

Welsh

Ancestral Language Translations: Sift

Bible Trace: Sift

Matched Bible Translations: Sift

Illustrations:
Sift