v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Sifted; p. pr. & vb. n. Sifting. ] [ AS. siftan, from sife sieve. √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. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To separate or part as if with a sieve. [ 1913 Webster ]

When yellow sands are sifted from below,
The glittering billows give a golden show. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To examine critically or minutely; to scrutinize. [ 1913 Webster ]

Sifting the very utmost sentence and syllable. Hooker. [ 1913 Webster ]

Opportunity I here have had
To try thee, sift thee. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Let him but narrowly sift his ideas. I. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

To sift out, to search out with care, as if by sifting. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who, or that which, sifts. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zool.) 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&unr_; of the beak. [ 1913 Webster ]