Crossword clues for winnow
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Winnow \Win"now\, v. i. To separate chaff from grain.
Winnow not with every wind.
--Ecclus. v.
9.
Winnow \Win"now\ (w[i^]n"n[-o]), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Winnowed (w[i^]n"n[-o]d); p. pr. & vb. n. Winnowing.] [OE. windewen, winewen, AS. windwian; akin to Goth. winpjan (in comp.), winpi-skauro a fan, L. ventilare to fan, to winnow; cf. L. wannus a fan for winnowing, G. wanne, OHG. wanna. [root]13
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See Wind moving air, and cf. Fan., n., Ventilate.] 1. To separate, and drive off, the chaff from by means of wind; to fan; as, to winnow grain.
Ho winnoweth barley to-night in the threshing floor.
--Ruth. iii. -
2. To sift, as for the purpose of separating falsehood from truth; to separate, as bad from good.
Winnow well this thought, and you shall find This light as chaff that flies before the wind.
--Dryden. -
To beat with wings, or as with wings.[Poetic]
Now on the polar winds; then with quick fan Winnows the buxom air.
--Milton.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
late 14c., from Old English windwian "to fan, winnow," from wind "air in motion, paring down," see wind (n.1). Cognate with Old Norse vinza, Old High German winton "to fan, winnow," Gothic diswinþjan "to throw (grain) apart."
Wiktionary
n. That which winnows or which is used in winnowing; a contrivance for fanning or winnowing grain. vb. 1 (context transitive agriculture English) To subject (granular material, especially food grain) to a current of air separating heavier and lighter components, as grain from chaff. 2 (context transitive figuratively English) To separate, sift, analyze, or test in this manner. 3 (context transitive literary English) To blow upon or toss about by blowing; to set in motion as with a fan or wings. 4 (context intransitive literary dated English) To move about with a flapping motion, as of wings; to flutter.
WordNet
n. the act of separating grain from chaff; "the winnowing was done by women" [syn: winnowing, sifting]
v. separate from chaff; "She stood there winnowing grain all day in the field" [syn: fan]
blow on; "The wind was winnowing her hair"
treat by exposure to a current of air so that waste matter is eliminated; "winnow grain"
remove by a current of air; "winnow chaff"
Wikipedia
The winnow algorithm is a technique from machine learning for learning a linear classifier from labeled examples. It is very similar to the perceptron algorithm. However, the perceptron algorithm uses an additive weight-update scheme, while Winnow uses a multiplicative scheme that allows it to perform much better when many dimensions are irrelevant (hence its name). It is a simple algorithm that scales well to high-dimensional data. During training, Winnow is shown a sequence of positive and negative examples. From these it learns a decision hyperplane that can then be used to label novel examples as positive or negative. The algorithm can also be used in the online learning setting, where the learning and the classification phase are not clearly separated.
Usage examples of "winnow".
Before Brier could stop her, she had slipped into the crowd and begun to winnow through it, apparently in search of the most articulate sleep-talker.
But the untiring critic within has winnowed, reassorted, and disposed the material I needed.
She took her turn traveling with the hunters to dry the meat, gathered fruits, seeds, nuts, and vegetables with the women, winnowed and parched and ground grains to a superfine texture to make it easier for Creb and Durc to chew.
Elaira shivered in revulsion as a thousand hapless lives were encountered and winnowed aside like the toss of so much dry chaff.
The discorporate mage winnowed his way to the floor through a gloom mazed in smoke, now steeped in growing blue by the east-facing casements.
Numerous as the sins of the damned, they rolled on in a burst of winnowed chaff, to scatter across the stone floor.
Notes winnowed free like leaves ripped on storm winds, blended into cascades that transfixed the heart with regret.
His jewels spat indigo sparks in the gloom, and candles winnowed by spurts of disturbed air threw wavering, ominous shadows.
The illusion of shadows that once masked their shapes had winnowed away to reveal the cunning trap beneath.
All in whose pulses ran Blood that is his at last, From the first stooping man Far in the winnowed past.
How should they know the wind of a new beauty Sweeping my soul had winnowed it with song?
Jhanuud-tir-yed emerged from a conference that had been winnowed down to only the most important figures present.
To mage-sight, the creatures appeared as a mad gyre of sparks, winnowed and whirled by the insatiable hungers that drove them.
Only then could the inbound wraiths be reeled in and contained, each spirit laboriously winnowed separate and Named, then restored to its shattered identity.
Drowning in density, her mind broke away, whirled and winnowed like a spark sucked up a vast flue.