Verb

To sieve or strain (something).

To separate or scatter (things) as if by sieving.

To examine (something) carefully.

* 1748 . David Hume. Enquiries concerning the human understanding and concerning the principles of moral. London: Oxford University Press, 1973. § 28.

But if we still carry on our sifting humour, and ask, What is the foundation of all conclusions from experience ? this implies a new question.

* {{quote-book

, year=1764 , author= , title= , pageurl=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/696/696-h/696-h.htm , page= , publisher=}}

It immediately occurred to him to sift her on the subject of Isabella and Theodore.

Verb

(head)

(obsolete) (sip)

Verb

To drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a time.

* 1898 , , (Moonfleet) Chapter 5

He held out to me a bowl of steaming broth, that filled the room with a savour sweeter, ten thousand times, to me than every rose and lily of the world; yet would not let me drink it at a gulp, but made me sip it with a spoon like any baby.

* {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)

, chapter=5 citation , passage=A waiter brought his aperitif, which was a small scotch and soda, and as he sipped it gratefully he sighed.
   ‘Civilized,’ he said to Mr. Campion. ‘Humanizing.’ […] ‘Cigars and summer days and women in big hats with swansdown face-powder, that's what it reminds me of.’}}

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= Revenge of the nerds , passage=Think of banking today and the image is of grey-suited men in towering skyscrapers. Its future, however, is being shaped in converted warehouses and funky offices in San Francisco, New York and London, where bright young things in jeans and T-shirts huddle around laptops, sipping lattes or munching on free food.}}

To drink a small quantity.

* (John Dryden)

[She] raised it to her mouth with sober grace; / Then, sipping , offered to the next in place.

To taste the liquor of; to drink out of.

* (John Dryden)

They skim the floods, and sip the purple flowers.

(Scotland, US, dated)

(Webster 1913)