WINNOWING • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Winnowing

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/wˈɪnˌoʊɪŋ/ Listen

verb

Winnow v. t. (past & past part. winnowed; pres. part. winnowing)

To separate, and drive off, the chaff from by means of wind; to fan; as, to winnow grain. "Ho winnoweth barley to-night in the threshing floor."

To sift, as for the purpose of separating falsehood from truth; to separate, as bad from good. "Winnow well this thought, and you shall find This light as chaff that flies before the wind."

To beat with wings, or as with wings.(Poetic) "Now on the polar winds; then with quick fan Winnows the buxom air."

Winnow v. i. To separate chaff from grain. "Winnow not with every wind."

noun

Winnowing n. The act of one who, or that which, winnows.

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Etymology of 'Winnowing'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Winnowing" Quotes from Famous Books

... wasted; and the like. (2.) The other sort of improvements, those which diminish labor, but without increasing the capacity of the land to produce, are such as the improved construction of tools; the introduction of new instruments which spare manual labor, as the winnowing and thrashing machines. These improvements do not add to the productiveness of the land, but they are equally calculated with the former to counteract the tendency in the cost of production of agricultural produce, to rise with the progress ...

— Principles Of Political Economy • John Stuart Mill

... Dasahra and during Phagun, and offer fowls to them. They have little faith in medicine, and in cases of sickness requisition the aid of the village sorcerer, who ascertains what deity is displeased with them by moving grain to and fro in a winnowing-fan and naming the village gods in turn. He goes on repeating the names until his hand slackens or stops at some name, and the offended god is thus indicated. He is then summoned and enters into the body of one of the persons ...

— The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India - Volume II • R. V. Russell

... floating slowly, slowly, like a gull over the sea; he could make out its smooth nose, its low parapet beyond, the steersman's head motionless; he could even hear now the soft winnowing of the screw—and then he saw that for which ...

— Lord of the World • Robert Hugh Benson

... visited Chia Lakelet. On their way they met men and women eagerly reaping the corn in haste, to convey it to the stockades, while so much was found scattered along the paths by the Mazitu and the fugitives that some women were winnowing it from the sand. Dead bodies and burned villages showed that they were close upon the heels of the invaders. Among the reeds on the banks of the lake was seen a continuous village of temporary huts in which the people had taken ...

— Great African Travellers - From Mungo Park to Livingstone and Stanley • W.H.G. Kingston

... for only a small quantity of water was put into the pot. This process lasted two hours. They were then taken out, and allowed to dry; and after that shaken about in a pan, until all the legs and wings were broken off from the bodies. A winnowing process—Swartboy's thick lips acting as a fan—was next gone through; and the legs and wings were thus got rid of. The locusts were then ...

— Popular Adventure Tales • Mayne Reid

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