Winnow

Definition: Winnow

Winnow

Noun

1. The act of separating grain from chaff; "the winnowing was done by women".

Verb

1. Separate from chaff; of grain.

2. Blow on; "The wind was winnowing her hair".

3. Separate wheat from chaff; "She stood there winnowing all day in the field".

4. Treat by exposure to a current of air so that waste matter is eliminated, as of grain.

5. Remove by a current of air, as of chaff.

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "winnow" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1610. (references)

Bible

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Synonyms: Winnow

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.

Exclusion

Pass over, omit; garble; eliminate, weed, winnow.

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).

Crosswords: Winnow

Albanian

tagar (fan), shoshit (riddle, screen, sift), ndaj (allot, apportion, at, bar, by, come between, cut, detach, disarticulate, disembody, disjoin, disjoint, dismember, dispart, dissever, dissociate, distinguish, distribute, disunite, divide, divorce, divvy, fissure, fractionate, grade, hand out, joint, on, part, partition, reconcile, rope off, section, segregate, separate, sever, share, sort out, space, split, sunder, toward, towards, unjoint, unlink, unscramble, unto), hedh (aim, cast, cheat, chuck, dart, dash, diddle, discard, dispose of, down-load, drop, evade, flash, fling, flip, fob, fob off, have, heave, hose, hurl, land, launch, pitch, pour out, project, push, rain, release, scrap, send, set down, sink, sling, spill, sprinkle, strew, swing, tap, throw, throw away, throw down, throw over, toss, touch off, transfer). (various references)

Arabic 

‏مذراة (fork, pitchfork), ‏نخل (sieve, sift), ‏غربل (garble, riddle, screen, screen out, sift, weed), ‏تهب الريح على, ‏تهب الريح, ‏طار (fly, flying, plane, rise, stream, swarm, take off, take wing, volatilize, whiffle, wing), ‏ذرى (atomize, fan, pitchfork). (various references)

Bulgarian 

вея (blow, fan, flaunt, flirt, puff), отвявам (blow, blow away, blow off, fan), пресявам (bolt, griddle, riddle, screen, sieve, sift), подбирам (assail, cull, extract, go for smb., herd, match, pick, pick out, pick over, rail at, round up, select), пляскам с криле (flap, flop, flutter). (various references)

Chinese 

簸揚 , 吹开 (Winnowed, Winnowing). (various references)

Czech

prosívat. (various references)

Farsi 

پاک کردن (Absolve, Clean, Cleanse, Efface, Erase, Mop, Obliterate, Purge, Purify, Rub, Sancify, Scour, Scrape, Sublimate, Ventilate, Wash, Wipe), غربال کردن (Screen, Sieve), افشاندن (Diffuse, Exude, Inseminate, Intersperse, Pour, Scatter, Spray), بوجاری کردن , بجنبش دراوردن (Move), بادافشان کردن , باددادن (Weather). (various references)

Finnish

pohtaa. (various references)

French

voler (wing), vanner, démêler. (various references)

Greek 

λιχνίζω. (various references)

Hebrew 

לס� ן (filter, filtrate, percolate, sieve, sift, strain, strain off), ל� פות (comb, riddle, scrutinize, sieve, sift). (various references)

Hungarian

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

Indonesian

saringan (muffler), penyaring, nyiru (winnowing-basket). (various references)

Italian

vagliare (examine, riddle, screen, sift, weigh), mondare (cleanse, Peel, pick over, shell). (various references)

Japanese Kanji 

鋤簾 (bamboo winnow used to sift earth or sand), 吹き分ける (to blow apart, to smelt, to winnow). (various references)

Japanese Katakana 

ふきわける (to blow apart, to smelt, to winnow), じょれ�" (bamboo winnow used to sift earth or sand). (various references)

Korean 

키질하십시�". (various references)

Manx

fasney (fan), caihghey, bennalt (flap, flutter, fly, waft). (various references)

Maya

waay (to winnow). (various references)

Pig Latin

innowway.(various references)

Portuguese

limpar com ciranda, joeirar (sift), cirandar (sift). (various references)

Romanian

vântura (fan, wander), tria (select, sort), flutura pãrul cuiva, cerceta cu grijã, bate aerul cu aripile, 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, sift, single out, sort, sunder, take one's choice). (various references)

Russian 

веять (fan). (various references)

Scottish

sgag (cause to split, crack, filter, shrink, split). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian

vejati (fall heavily), razbacati (intersperse, litter, scatter), ovejati. (various references)

Spanish

aventar (blow, fan). (various references)

Swedish

sålla (riddle, screen, sieve, sift). (various references)

Turkish

yabalamak, yabalama, yaba (fan, fork, hayfork, prong, wooden fork, wooden winnowing fork), rüzgâra savurarak ayırmak, harman savurmak, harman savurma, ayırmak (abstract, allocate, allot, allow, appropriate, assort, book, choose, classify, comb, comb out, contradistinguish, cut off, cut out, demarcate, detach, devote, disband, discard, disembody, disjoin, disrupt, dissever, dissociate, distinguish, disunite, divert, divide, divorce, divorce from, earmark, except, hive off, insulate, intend for, isolate, keep apart, mark out, part, particularize, partition, partition off, pick out, portion, reduce, reserve, resolve, seclude, segregate, select, separate, sequester, set apart, set aside, sever, shut off, single out, snatch away from, snatch from, sort, sort out, spare, specialize, split, spread, spread out, sunder, sweep off, take apart, tear away, tear off, unpick, unstick, wall), ayıklamak (clean out, comb out, grub up, pick, pick over, pluck, select, sort, sort out, weed out, weed up). (various references)

Ukrainian

розвівати, віяти (blow, breeze in, whiff), віялка, просівати (riddle, sieve, sift), добирати (adopt). (various references)

Welsh

nithio (sift), gwyntyllio (ventilate). (various references)

Derivations

Words beginning with "winnow": winnowed, winnower, winnowers, winnowing, winnows. (additional references)

Misspellings

"Winnow" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: winna, Winnat, winnen, winoe, winon, winot, winox. (additional references)

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

-2 letters: wino.

-3 letters: inn, ion, now, own, win, won, wow.

-4 letters: in, no, on, ow, wo.

+1 letter: winnows.

+2 letters: downwind, winnowed, winnower.

+3 letters: downswing, windblown, windowing, winnowers, winnowing.

+4 letters: downswings, windowpane, windrowing.

+5 letters: snowplowing, windowpanes.