sifting

Verb

sift (third-person singular simple present sifts, present participle sifting, simple past and past participle sifted)

1. (transitive) To sieve or strain (something).
2. (transitive) To separate or scatter (things) as if by sieving.
3. (archaic, dated, transitive) To scrutinize (someone or something) carefully so as to find the truth.
   • 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...
4. (transitive) [with through] To carefully go through a set of objects, or a collection of information, in order to find something.
   • 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
5. (dated, transitive) To move data records up in memory to make space to insert further records.

See all 6 meanings of sift