sift

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English siften,^[2][3][4][5] inherited from Old English siftan (“to pass through a sieve”),^[6][7][8][9] from Proto-West Germanic *siftijan.^[1] The stem is that of sieve, sife,^[6][3][4] which Hoad gives as West Germanic *sib-^[10] and Etymonline as Proto-Germanic.^[9] It is cognate with Middle Dutch siften and sichten, Middle Low German siften and sichten, Dutch ziften and German sichten,^[6][10][11] the last from Low German, according to Weekley.^[12] Beyond Germanic, Etymonline traces the family to Proto-Indo-European *seib- (“to pour out, sieve, drip, trickle”),^[9] the OED says only that the stem may be ultimately related to sye,^[6] and Klein calls the noun of uncertain origin.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

To pass something through a sieve: Old English, first in the Corpus Glossary,^[6] before 800 in Barnhart's dating.^[3] Bosworth-Toller has swá swá mon melo sift, as one sifts meal, and glosses of Latin crībrō.^[7] In Middle English the literal use appears in Chaucer's Canon's Yeoman's Tale, where the mullock is thrown in a sieve and sifted.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The Cursor Mundi has it for making trial of a person,^[6] and the Coverdale Bible of 1535 has it in figurative use.^[6][3][9] Closer questioning follows before 1566, and close examination to find the truth in 1573, in Gabriel Harvey, while sift out is recorded from 1577.^[6] Johnson (1755) gave "to examine; to try" after two literal senses, quoting Hooker, Shakespeare and Milton.^[13] A second line of development kept the falling flour in view: covering something by sifting (1563), scattering from a sieve (1664), and, intransitively, passing loosely or falling as snow or light does, from the 1590s.^[6][9] In 19th-century slang it meant to embezzle small coins, the ones that would pass through a sieve.^[14] Scots and Cheshire dialects also used it for falling snow (Dumfries), for gossiping (Dumbarton, south Cheshire) and, with out, for finding out a secret (Shetland); Shetlanders sifted silver coins in a sieve before a mirror at Hallowmas to see their future.^[15]

Timeline

• Old English – to pass through a sieve.^[6][7]
• before 1400 – to make trial of a person.^[6]
• 1428 – to separate or take out by means of a sieve.^[6]
• 1535 – figurative or transferred use; intransitive, to use a sieve, to pry into something.^[6][3]
• 1563 – to cover by letting something fall through a sieve.^[6]
• before 1566 – to question a person closely.^[6]
• 1573 – to examine closely to find out the truth.^[6]
• 1590s – of snow or light, to pass loosely or fall scattered.^[9]
• 1664 – to scatter from a sieve.^[6]
• 1814 – noun, the act of sifting.^[6]
• 1864 – slang, to steal small coins.^[14]

Meanings

Verb

1. To pass something through a sieve so as to remove the coarser particles or lumps: Sift the cocoa into the bowl.^[16][17][6]
2. To separate or take out with a sieve or as if with one, often with out: The panel sifted out the weakest applications.^[16][17][6]
3. To scatter something over a surface through a sieve.^[16][6]
4. To examine closely and critically; to scrutinize: The auditors sifted the receipts.^[16][18][6]
5. To go through something carefully, with through.^[18][16]
6. To fall or pass as if through a sieve: Light sifted through the blinds.^[16][18][9]
7. To use a sieve.^[18][6]

Noun

1. Something sifted, or that falls as from a sieve.^[17][6]
2. The act of sifting; a fall as from a sieve.^[6]

Word family

• sifter
• outsift
• presift
• resift

Related words

• sieve

Usage notes

The noun sift, a sieve, recorded from 1499 to 1648, corresponds to Middle Dutch sifte, and the OED takes this sense as partly a borrowing from Dutch.^[6] In American and British black slang, sift "to move, to start moving", with sift in "to arrive", is a form of shift, recorded from 1907.^[14]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
8. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
9. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
15. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
16. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
17. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
18. ^ a b c d The Chambers Dictionary (2008), 11th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap