sieves

Noun

sieve (plural sieves)

1. A device with a mesh, grate, or otherwise perforated bottom to separate, in a granular material, larger particles from smaller ones, or to separate solid objects from a liquid.
   • Near-synonyms: sifter, strainer, temse

   Synonyms:

   sifter, strainer, temse

2. A process, physical or abstract, that arrives at a final result by filtering out unwanted pieces of input from a larger starting set of input.
   • Given a list of consecutive numbers starting at 1, the Sieve of Eratosthenes algorithm will find all of the prime numbers.
3. (obsolete) A kind of coarse basket.
4. (colloquial) A person, or their mind, that cannot remember things or is unable to keep secrets.
5. (derogatory, slang) An intern who lets too many non-serious cases into the emergency room.
   • To be a sieve was to lack clinical judgment, courage, and group loyalty all at once.1997, Leo Galland, The Four Pillars of Healing, page 25
6. A collection of morphisms in a category whose codomain is a certain fixed object of that category, which collection is closed under precomposition by any morphism in the category.

See all 8 meanings of sieve