sieve

Noun

1. A device with a mesh, grate, or otherwise perforated bottom to separate, in a granular material, larger particles from smaller ones, or to separate solid objects from a liquid.
2. A process, physical or abstract, that arrives at a final result by filtering out unwanted pieces of input from a larger starting set of input.
3. (obsolete) A kind of coarse basket.
4. (colloquial) A person, or their mind, that cannot remember things or is unable to keep secrets.
5. (derogatory, slang) An intern who lets too many non-serious cases into the emergency room.
6. A collection of morphisms in a category whose codomain is a certain fixed object of that category, which collection is closed under precomposition by any morphism in the category.

Verb

1. To strain, sift or sort using a sieve.
2. To concede; let in

Pronounced as (IPA)

/sɪv/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: sive

Inherited from Old English: sife

In summary

From Middle English sive, syfe, from Old English sife, from Proto-West Germanic *sibi (“sieve”), from Proto-Indo-European *seyp-, *seyb- (“to pour, sieve, strain, run, drip”). Akin to German Sieb, Dutch zeef, Proto-Slavic *sito (Russian си́то (síto), сев (sev), се́ять (séjatʹ)).

Synonyms

sift

strainer

screen

strain

filter

sifter

colander

riddle

winnow

mesh

bolter

pour

sort

filtrate

screen out

recap

run

run through

screener

basket

🧺

scrutinize

separate

shaker

sizing screen

vet

walk through

wash

🧽

pour off

sieve out

small gong

hairsieve

mesh screen

scrutinise

cribble

dredge

filter out

flow

go

go over

go through

grate

grating

gridiron

medium size

mop

percolate

rain

🌧️

Translations

tamis

Sieb

setaccio

sieben

7

tamiz

crible

colador

sito

tamiser

colar

cribar

setacciare

peneira

zeef

passoire