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winnow. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
winnow, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
winnow in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
winnow you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
From Middle English winewen, windewen, windwen, from Old English windwian (“to winnow, fan, ventilate”), from Proto-West Germanic *windwōn, from Proto-Germanic *windwōną, *winþijaną (“to throw about, winnow”), from Proto-Indo-European *wē- (“to winnow, thresh”). Cognate with Middle High German winden (“to winnow”), Icelandic vinsa (“to pick out, weed”), Latin vannus (“a winnowing basket”). See fan, van.
Pronunciation
Verb
winnow (third-person singular simple present winnows, present participle winnowing, simple past and past participle winnowed)
- (transitive, agriculture) To subject (granular material, especially food grain) to a current of air separating heavier and lighter components, as grain from chaff.
- Synonym: wind
1998 January 3, Sid Perkins, “Thin Skin”, in Science News, volume 165, number 1, page 11:[W]ind began to winnow the river delta's dried sediments.
- (transitive, figuratively) To separate, sift, analyse, or test by separating items having different values.
They winnowed the field to twelve.
They winnowed the winners from the losers.
They winnowed the losers from the winners.
- (transitive, literary) To blow upon or toss about by blowing; to set in motion as with a fan or wings.
1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XVIII, in Francesca Carrara. , volume II, London: Richard Bentley, , (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 206:The light snow lay on the narrow and winding path before them, pure as if just fresh winnowed by the wind.
1872, Elliott Coues, Key to North American Birds:Gulls average much larger than terns, with stouter build; the feet are larger and more ambulatorial, the wings are shorter and not so thin; the birds winnow the air in a steady course unlike the buoyant dashing flight of their relatives.
- (intransitive, literary, dated) To move about with a flapping motion, as of wings; to flutter.
Usage notes
- Used with adverb or preposition "down"; see also winnow down.
- Used with adverbs or prepositions "through", "away", and "out".
Hyponyms
Derived terms
Translations
to separate the heavier and lighter with a current of air
- Arabic: ذَرَّى (ḏarrā), نَسَفَ (nasafa)
- Azerbaijani: sovurmaq
- Belarusian: ве́яць impf (vjéjacʹ)
- Bikol Central: tahop (bcl)
- Breton: gwentañ (br)
- Bulgarian: ве́я (bg) impf (véja), отвявам (bg) (otvjavam)
- Catalan: ventar (ca)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 簸 (zh) (bǒ)
- Czech: rozvívat
- Dutch: wannen (nl)
- Finnish: tuultaa (fi), viskata (fi)
- French: vanner (fr)
- Galician: erguer (gl), abalear (gl), alzar, escribar
- German: worfeln (de), windsichten (de) (technical), trennen (de)
- Greek:
- Ancient Greek: λικμάω (likmáō), πτίσσω (ptíssō)
- Khün: ᨺᩢ᩠ᨯ
- Lao: ຝັດ (fat)
- Latin: ventilo
- Latvian: vētīt (lv)
- Lü: ᦚᧆ (ḟad)
- Macedonian: вее (vee)
- Malay: tampi
- Maori: kōwhiuwhiu
- Ngazidja Comorian: upveresa, utsepva
- Northern Thai: ᨺᩢ᩠ᨯ
- Occitan: ventar (oc), vanar, porgar
- Old Church Slavonic:
- Cyrillic: вѣꙗти impf (vějati)
- Old East Slavic: вѣꙗти impf (vějati)
- Polish: wiać (pl) impf
- Portuguese: joeirar (pt)
- Russian: ве́ять (ru) impf (véjatʹ), отве́ивать (ru) impf (otvéivatʹ), отве́ять (ru) pf (otvéjatʹ)
- Shan: ၽတ်း (shn) (phát)
- Slovak: viať
- Spanish: ahechar (es), cribar (es)
- Telugu: చెరుగు (te) (cerugu)
- Thai: ฝัด (th) (fàt)
- Turkish: harman savurmak (tr)
- Ottoman Turkish: صاورمق (savurmak), یابالامق (yabalamak)
- Ukrainian: ві́яти impf (víjaty)
- Vietnamese: sàng (vi)
- Yoruba: fẹ́, fẹ́kà
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figuratively: to separate, sift, analyze, test
Noun
winnow (plural winnows)
- That which winnows or which is used in winnowing; a contrivance for fanning or winnowing grain.
- The act of winnowing
Translations
something that winnows
- Ainu: ムイ (mui)
- Arabic: ذَرَّايَة (ḏarrāya), مِذْرَاة (miḏrāh), مِنْفَض (minfaḍ)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 箕 (zh) (jī)
- Czech: vějička f, fukar (cs) m, čistící stroj m
- Dutch: wan (nl) m or f
- French: tarare (fr) m, van (fr) m, crible (fr) m
- Galician: xoeira f, cribo m
- Japanese: 箕 (ja) (み, mi)
- Korean: 사래질하다 (saraejilhada)
- Kunigami: 箕笊筒 (みーじょーきー mījōkī, むいじょーきー muijōkī)
- Macedonian: веалка f (vealka)
- Maori: kōwhiuwhiu
- Miyako: 箕 (mui)
- Northern Amami-Oshima: さんばら (sanbara)
- Occitan: ventador (oc) m
- Oki-No-Erabu: はら (hara)
- Okinawan: 箕笊筒 (みーぞーきー, mīzōkī)
- Polish: wiejadło (pl) n
- Portuguese: joeira (pt) f
- Russian: ве́ялка (ru) f (véjalka)
- Toku-No-Shima: はーら (hāra)
- Turkish: atkı (tr), yaba (tr)
- Ukrainian: віялка f (vijalka)
- Yaeyama: 笊筒 (そーぎ, sōgi)
- Yonaguni: 御御 (うむい, umui)
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References
- “winnow”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- “winnow”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “winnow”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.