Sieve (?), n. [OE. sive, AS. sife; akin to D. zeef, zift, OHG. sib, G. sieb. &root;151a. Cf. Sift.]
1.
A utensil for separating the finer and coarser parts of a pulverized or granulated substance from each other. It consist of a vessel, usually shallow, with the bottom perforated, or made of hair, wire, or the like, woven in meshes.
"In a
sieve thrown and sifted."
Chaucer.
2.
A kind of coarse basket.
Simmonds.
Sieve cells Bot., cribriform cells. See under Cribriform.
© Webster 1913.