The fire inspector sifted through the rubble, looking for clues to the start of the fire.
•We sifted through all the papers in the old trunk, but we did not find what we were looking for.
Dictionary of American idioms. 2013.
sift — [[t]sɪ̱ft[/t]] sifts, sifting, sifted 1) VERB If you sift a powder such as flour or sand, you put it through a sieve in order to remove large pieces or lumps. [V n] Sift the flour and baking powder into a medium sized mixing bowl. Syn: sieve 2)… … English dictionary
sift — [sıft] v [T] [: Old English; Origin: siftan] 1.) to put flour, sugar etc through a sieve or similar container in order to remove large pieces 2.) also sift through to examine information, documents etc carefully in order to find something out or… … Dictionary of contemporary English
sift — [ sıft ] verb transitive 1. ) to pour a dry substance through a sieve to remove the large pieces 2. ) sift or sift through to examine information, documents, etc. in order to find what you are looking for: Sift every grain of information until… … Usage of the words and phrases in modern English
sift — verb (T) 1 to put flour, sugar etc through a sieve or similar container in order to remove large pieces 2 also sift through to examine information, documents etc carefully in order to find something out or decide what is important and what is not … Longman dictionary of contemporary English
sift — [sɪft] verb [T] 1) to pour a dry substance through a sieve in order to remove the large pieces 2) to examine something carefully in order to find what you are looking for • sift through sth … Dictionary for writing and speaking English
sift — [sift] vt. [ME siften < OE siftan < sife, SIEVE] 1. to pass through a sieve so as to separate the coarse from the fine particles, or to break up lumps, as of flour 2. to scatter (a pulverized substance) by or as by the use of a sieve 3. to… … English World dictionary
sift — /sift/, v.t. 1. to separate and retain the coarse parts of (flour, ashes, etc.) with a sieve. 2. to scatter or sprinkle through or by means of a sieve: to sift sugar onto cake. 3. to separate by or as if by a sieve. 4. to examine closely: The… … Universalium
sift — O.E. siftan pass something through a sieve, related to sife (see SIEVE (Cf. sieve)). Cf. Du. ziften, M.L.G. sichten, Ger. sichten to sift. Metaphoric sense of look carefully through first recorded 1530s … Etymology dictionary
sift — [[t]sɪft[/t]] v. t. 1) to separate and retain the coarse parts of (flour, ashes, etc.) with a sieve 2) to scatter by means of a sieve: to sift sugar onto a cake[/ex] 3) to separate by or as if by a sieve 4) to examine closely: The detectives are… … From formal English to slang
sift — /sɪft / (say sift) verb (t) 1. to separate the coarse parts of (flour, ashes, etc.) with a sieve. 2. to scatter by means of a sieve: to sift sugar on to cake. 3. to separate by or as by a sieve. 4. to examine closely. 5. to question closely.… …
have something coming out of your ears — informal phrase to have a lot of something, or more of it than you need We have information coming out of our ears and we just need time to sift through it. Thesaurus: to have a particular quality or thingsynonym Main entry: ear * * * … Useful english dictionary
