/ sɪft; NAmE / verb
1.
[ vn ] to put flour or some other fine substance through a sieve / sifter :
Sift the flour into a bowl.
2.
sift (through) sth to examine sth very carefully in order to decide what is important or useful or to find sth important :
[ vn ]
We will sift every scrap of evidence.
[ v ]
Crash investigators have been sifting through the wreckage of the aircraft.
3.
[ vn ] sift sth (out) from sth to separate sth from a group of things :
She looked quickly through the papers, sifting out from the pile anything that looked interesting.
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PHRASAL VERBS
- sift sth out
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WORD ORIGIN
Old English siftan , of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch ziften , also to sieve .