I. ˈsiv noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English sive, seve, from Old English sife; akin to Middle Dutch seve sieve, Old High German sib sieve, Old Norse sef rush (plant), Serbian sípiti to drizzle; basic meaning: drip, trickle
1.
a. : a meshed or perforated device or utensil through which dry loose material (as flour or ashes) is winnowed or refined, material containing liquid is strained, and soft solids (as hard-boiled eggs) are comminuted by forcing (as with a pestle) ; sometimes : sifter
b. : material meshed or perforated like a sieve
strips of sieve
2. : a meshed or perforated sheet (as of metal or cloth) with apertures of uniform size used to separate powdered or granulated material according to the size of its particles as:
a. : one woven from wire cloth having square apertures and used chiefly in a chemistry laboratory
b. : a rectangular wooden frame covered with wire screen on one side and silk cloth on the other and used in a flour-milling sifter
3. : gossip
the sieve of a patron let it out — Lord Byron
4. slang : a body riddled by bullets
made a mistake trying to kill his ex-wife's new husband — ending up a sieve — Bill O'Rourke
5. : sieve of eratosthenes — usually used with the
first proposed by the ancient Greek philosopher and mathematician Eratosthenes and … usually known as the sieve — George Gamow
II. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
transitive verb
1.
a. : to put through a sieve or sifter or meshed material
sieved avocado
sieve the cocoa with the flour
the oxide catalyst is … crushed and sieved to give granules of uniform size — E.R.Riegel
b. : to separate or separate out by putting through a sieve or sifter or meshed material
sieve the juice from the pulp
— usually used with out
sieve out the finer grains
2.
a. : to study (a whole) carefully for the purpose of extracting a part : screen
a hundred candidates must be sieved to find one who knows the score — H.M.Silver
b. : to separate by a process of careful study or by trial : winnow — usually used with out
sieve out inessentials
the test sieved out several of the candidates
in order to identify the essence of a national style one must sieve out the radical evidence — Harvey Breit
3. : perforate
the ceiling … sieved with millions of pinpoint holes for ventilation — New Republic
intransitive verb
1. : to use a sieve or sifter : do sieving
2. : to pass through or as if through a sieve or sifter or meshed material
the dust from the ashes sieved through
her mother's voice … sieved through the screen … out of the lighted kitchen — John Hermann
— compare sift