Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In milling and baking, a machine for sifting flour preparatory to blending it or using it in baking. It consists of a sieve inclosed in a casing and fitted with a cylindrical brush which, revolving above the sieve, breaks up all the lumps and presses the flour through the sieve.
  • noun One who sifts, in any sense; especially, one employed in the operation of sifting loose matter.
  • noun A sieve, particularly one differing in form and use from the common sieve, as for sorting matter of differing sizes, sifting ashes from partly burned coal, or the like.
  • noun plural Specifically, in ornithology, the lamellirostral birds, as ducks and geese; sievebeaks.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun One who, or that which, sifts.
  • noun (Zoöl.) Any lamellirostral bird, as a duck or goose; -- so called because it sifts or strains its food from the water and mud by means of the lamell� of the beak.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A tool for sifting, especially one for powdered cooking ingredients.
  • noun rare One who sifts.
  • noun Any lamellirostral bird, as a duck or goose, so called because it sifts or strains its food from the water and mud by means of the lamellae of the beak.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a household sieve (as for flour)

Etymologies

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Examples

  • A large sifter is good for the first few strainings but when you're down to the teensy knitty grit, a smaller sifter is better.

    Archive 2007-11-01 Anne-Marie 2007

  • A large sifter is good for the first few strainings but when you're down to the teensy knitty grit, a smaller sifter is better.

    Anti-Talc - Day Two - Fragrance and Color Anne-Marie 2007

  • But even if your goal is to have a lot of followers, following people makes you a better 'sifter'; someone who pick through what people are talking about and find interesting topics and threads. "

    Lee Stranahan: Pssst! Ashton! Demi! You're Sorta Missing The Point Of Twitter! 2009

  • I could appreciate a gmail-sifter to find patterns in my mail: suggesting new labels, perhaps identifying things I consistently leave in the inbox instead of filing (and for what reasons?)

    Midnight posty 4brad 2010

  • In the end, I don't think the sifter, itself, would come up with the best patterns on its own: this would need to generalize the patterns as rules, which you could share with others, and collectively figure out which rules are useful.

    Midnight posty 4brad 2010

  • A combination of a snow blower and farming sifter called the 'Sand Shark' is on hand to help clean the tar, but the machine only goes to a depth of six inches, and CNN shows that a layer of oil remains deep below that.

    Gulf Oil Spill Crude Remains Beneath The Sand 6 Months Later (VIDEO) The Huffington Post News Team 2010

  • A combination of a snow blower and farming sifter called the 'Sand Shark' is on hand to help clean the tar, but the machine only goes to a depth of six inches, and CNN shows that a layer of oil remains deep below that.

    Gulf Oil Spill Crude Remains Beneath The Sand 6 Months Later (VIDEO) Travis Walter Donovan 2010

  • I could appreciate a gmail-sifter to find patterns in my mail: suggesting new labels, perhaps identifying things I consistently leave in the inbox instead of filing (and for what reasons?)

    Midnight posty da_lj 2010

  • A combination of a snow blower and farming sifter called the 'Sand Shark' is on hand to help clean the tar, but the machine only goes to a depth of six inches, and CNN shows that a layer of oil remains deep below that.

    Gulf Oil Spill Crude Remains Beneath The Sand 6 Months Later (VIDEO) Travis Walter Donovan 2010

  • In the end, I don't think the sifter, itself, would come up with the best patterns on its own: this would need to generalize the patterns as rules, which you could share with others, and collectively figure out which rules are useful.

    Midnight posty da_lj 2010

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