sift

1. (transitive) To sieve or strain (something).transitive

2. (transitive) To separate or scatter (things) as if by sieving.transitive

3. (transitive) To examine (something) carefully.Examples: "As neere as I could ſift him on that argument, On ſome apparant danger ſeene in him, Aym‘d at your Highneſſe, no inueterate malice."; "But if we still carry on our sifting humour, and ask, What is the foundation of all conclusions from experience ? this implies a new question."; "It immediately occurred to him to sift her on the subject of Isabella and Theodore."archaicdatedtransitive

4. (transitive) To examine (something) carefully.Examples: "Sifting through the work of great orators like Philostratus and Quintilian they identify numerous examples of classical irony, metaphor, comparison, etc. which are missing in Paul."; "Britain’s police are especially zealous. Officers spend thousands of hours sifting through potentially offensive posts and arrest 30 people a day. Among those collared were a man who ranted about immigration on Facebook and a couple who criticised their daughter’s primary school."transitive

5. (computing, dated, transitive) To move data records up in memory to make space to insert further records.datedtransitive