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.