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What is "to sift out"

The Collaborative International Dictionary
To sift out

Sift \Sift\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Sifted; p. pr. & vb. n. Sifting.] [AS. siftan, from sife sieve. [root]151a. 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.

  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.

Usage examples of "to sift out".

But I've been worrying it in my mind for a while now, batting it about and tearing at it and trying to sift out the nuances of her meaning as I replayed it in memore­.

Boys shook these to sift out powdered ore, then mixed it with water, salt, and the dross from copper-making to produce a sticky clay.

It was hard to sift out the violence, but as he reached toward a deeper level of perception, the scene before him came to life with the ghostly transparency that betokened the visionary nature of what he was witnessing.

It would require both their talents, one to keep sentry, the other to sift out knowledge, as she had in Jucundus’.

The emotions swirling inside him came too fast, too hard to sift out only the thrill of victory.

The fellow's mind was wrapped in feverish excitement, but because of the distance, it was impossible for Finster to sift out coherent thoughts.

He had a tendency to jumble one topic inwith another as things occurred to him, and a good deal of itwas profane, but Alec managed to sift out enough to sethis mind at rest by the time they drew alongside thesleek hull of theGrampus.

It would require both their talents, one to keep sentry, the other to sift out knowledge, as she had in Jucundus's apartment.

The reason the fossil record appears to show a course of evolution is because the simpler and cruder organisms drowned first, and were the first to sift out in the layers of rubble and mud.