Definition of "sift"

To sieve or strain (something).  examples

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

To examine (something) carefully.

1. (archaic or old-fashioned) To scrutinise (someone or something) carefully so as to find the truth.  quotations

   Quotations

   • 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.

     1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The life and death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene i], page 23, column 1

   • 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.

     1748, David Hume, Enquiries concerning the human understanding and concerning the principles of moral, London: Oxford University Press, published 1973, § 28

   • It immediately occurred to him to sift her on the subject of Isabella and Theodore.

     1764, Horace Walpole, The Castle of Otranto, Strawberry Hill Press

2. [+ through (object)] To carefully go through a set of objects, or a collection of information, in order to find something.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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.

     1996, Timothy B. Savage, Power Through Weakness: Paul's Understanding of the Christian Ministry in 2 Corinthians, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, page 70

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