sieve
siv
- n a strainer for separating lumps from powdered material or grading particles
- v examine in order to test suitability
- v check and sort carefully
- v separate by passing through a sieve or other straining device to separate out coarser elements
- v distinguish and separate out
- Fine white powder pours past the border patrol like sand through a sieve.
- On how the threat of litigation impedes our ability to make common-sense decisions: "Straining daily choices through a legal sieve basically kills the human instinct needed to get .
- After the fall of France, when Britain was overrun with refugees, it had been Pinto, a Dutch intelligence officer, who put them through the security sieve to pick out the spies .