2. To separate or part as if with a sieve.
When yellow sands are sifted from below, The
glittering billows give a golden show. --Dryden.
3. To examine critically or minutely; to scrutinize.
Sifting the very utmost sentence and syllable.
--Hooker.
Opportunity I here have had To try thee, sift thee.
--Milton.
Let him but narrowly sift his ideas. --I. Taylor.
{To sift out}, to search out with care, as if by sifting.