winnow

/'winou/
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winnow

The farmer uses a winnowing basket to separate the grain from the chaff.

Definition

  1. Verb:

    • To separate grain from chaff using a current of air: The traditional agricultural process of using wind or a fan to blow away the lighter chaff, leaving the heavier grain.
    • To separate, sift, or select the desirable from the undesirable: To examine a group of things or people carefully in order to choose the best or most useful ones, or to remove the less desirable elements.
    • To blow on or through; to fan: (Literary/poetic) For wind or air to blow lightly over or through something.

  2. Noun:

    • The act or process of winnowing: The specific action of separating grain from chaff.
Usage and Examples

  • Verb (Agricultural meaning):

    • Farmers used to winnow the wheat by tossing it into the air on a breezy day.
    • The machine winnows the rice efficiently, separating the husks from the kernels.

  • Verb (Figurative meaning of selection):

    • The committee will winnow the list of hundreds of applicants down to a few finalists.
    • We must winnow the essential facts from all this confusing data.

  • Verb (Literary meaning of blowing):

    • A gentle breeze winnowed the tall grass in the meadow.
    • (Poetic) The wind winnowed her long hair.

  • Noun:

    • The winnow was a daily task after the harvest.
    • The final winnow of candidates is the most difficult phase.
Advanced Usage
  • "To winnow out": A common phrasal construction emphasizing the removal of unwanted elements.
    • The initial interview process is designed to winnow out unqualified candidates.
    • Time will winnow out the false theories from the true ones.
Variants and Related Words
  • Winnower (n): A person or a machine that winnows.
    • The farmer is a skilled winnower.
  • Winnowing (n/adj): The process or act of winnowing; used to describe tools (e.g., winnowing fan, winnowing basket) or the action itself.
    • The winnowing process is crucial for clean grain.
Synonyms
  • Separate: To divide or set apart.
  • Sift: To examine carefully and select.
  • Cull: To select from a large quantity; to remove inferior items.
  • Filter: To remove unwanted elements.
  • Fan: To blow air upon (for the literal agricultural sense).
Related Phrasal Verbs / Constructions
  • Winnow down: To reduce a large number to a smaller, selected group through a process of elimination.
    • We need to winnow down these 50 ideas to the top five.
  • Winnow away: To remove or eliminate gradually.
    • The investigation helped to winnow away the baseless accusations.
Related Idioms/Phrases
  • To separate the wheat from the chaff: This idiom is a direct metaphorical equivalent to "winnow," meaning to distinguish valuable people or things from worthless ones.
    • The difficult test is meant to separate the wheat from the chaff.
  • Winnowing process: Refers to any systematic procedure of elimination or selection.
    • The winnowing process in academic publishing is very rigorous.
winnow

The farmer uses a winnowing basket to separate the grain from the chaff.

Noun
  1. the act of separating grain from chaff
    • the winnowing was done by women
Verb
  1. blow away or off with a current of air
    • winnow chaff
  2. select desirable parts from a group or list
    • cull out the interesting letters from the poet's correspondence
    • winnow the finalists from the long list of applicants
  3. blow on
    • The wind was winnowing her hair
    • the wind winnowed the grass
  4. separate the chaff from by using air currents
    • She stood there winnowing chaff all day in the field

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