WordNet Dictionary- [v] distinguish and separate out; "sift through the job candidates"
- [v] separate by passing through a sieve or other straining device to separate out coarser elements; "sift the flour"
- [v] check and sort carefully; "sift the information"
- [v] move as if through a sieve; "The soldiers sifted through the woods"
Webster's 1913 Dictionary\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.
Computing DictionarySHARE 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.