sift

name

1. Initialism of scale-invariant feature transform.
2. Initialism of Selection Instrument Flight Training.

noun

Etymology: From Middle English syften, from Old English siftan, from Proto-West Germanic *siftijan.

1. An act of sifting.

verb

Etymology: From Middle English syften, from Old English siftan, from Proto-West Germanic *siftijan.

1. To sieve or strain (something).
2. To separate or scatter (things) as if by sieving.
3. To examine (something) carefully.

   “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.”

4. To examine (something) carefully.

   “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.”

5. To move data records up in memory to make space to insert further records.