winnow
9.8
An act of separating grain from its dry outer parts by blowing air
- noun
- /ˈwɪnoʊ/
:
aventada
- Young Imo, a Japanese macaque (Kavanagh 1983), had shown that she could learn to wash sand off sweet potatoes, winnow rice from sand, and steal the winnowings from others.
Examples
-
Yes, the winnows have have placed the line.
-
Yes, the winnows have place the line.
-
The farmer used a traditional method to winnow the grain from the chaff in the open air.
-
After the harvest, they began to winnow the rice to ensure only the best grains were left.
-
During the festival, villagers gathered to winnow the maize, celebrating a successful crop.
Synonyms
winnowing
vswinnow
3
7.5
Separating grain from chaff by tossing it into the air
is the same action but named as the base verb rather than the noun form
sifting
vswinnow
3.6
The act of separating wanted parts from unwanted bits by passing them through a sieve
uses air currents rather than a sieve to separate grain from chaff
How Thorough
Surface Forms
Etymology
Winnow comes from an old English idea connected to wind ('moving air'), because a winnow was the act of using air or a fan to blow the light chaff away from the heavy grain. So, the noun winnow means the process of separating grain from chaff.