sieve
part of speech
noun (sieve, sieves); verb (sieve, sieves, sieved, sieving)
meaning for a pupil
1) A sieve is a kitchen tool with a fine net or many small holes, used to separate small bits from big bits, or solids from liquid. tree →
2) To sieve means to put something through a sieve. tree →
3) «A memory like a sieve» means you forget things easily. tree →
sense in the lessons
In science, sieving is a way of separating mixtures: sand from gravel, flour lumps from fine flour, peas from water; it works because some pieces are smaller than the holes and some are bigger. In cooking, you sieve flour for cakes and drain pasta. In maths history, the «Sieve of Eratosthenes» finds prime numbers by crossing out multiples. Phrases: through a sieve, sieve the flour, a memory like a sieve.
examples
- Sieve the flour into the bowl so the cake is light. tree →
- We used a sieve to separate the sand from the stones. tree →
- Pour the peas into the sieve to drain the water. tree →
- Salt dissolved in water cannot be separated with a sieve. tree →
- The Sieve of Eratosthenes helps us find prime numbers. tree →
- I have a memory like a sieve — I forgot my PE kit again. tree →
- Gold miners used to sieve river gravel to find gold. tree →
- And they said to her, "Take a sieve and bring water in it." tree →
note
Pronounced «siv». Verb: sieved, sieving (also «sift»). Science trap: a sieve only separates pieces of different sizes; it cannot separate a dissolved solid (salt or sugar in water) — for that you evaporate. A colander is a big sieve with bigger holes.
In the corpora
- Toothed whales hunt one animal at a time instead of sieving the sea.
- Squash is a solution: more water makes it more dilute, and a sieve or filter cannot take the cordial back out.
- A sieve lets fine flour through and keeps lumps; long ago gold miners used pans and sieves to wash gold from river gravel.
- Sieving separates pieces of different sizes: small bits fall through the holes and big ones stay behind.
- A sieve separates solids of different sizes.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «sieve» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.