Winnow

Definition

To separate grain from chaff by throwing the mixture into the air and letting the wind carry away the lighter chaff while the heavier grain falls back down; more broadly, to sift through a mass of information or options to identify what is valuable and discard what is not. The term is used both literally in agriculture and figuratively in analysis or decision-making.

Example Usage

After reviewing hundreds of job applications, the hiring committee began to winnow the stack down to the top ten candidates.

Origin

From Old English windwian, from wind (air current); the verb form of the process of using wind to separate grain, dating back to ancient agricultural practice.

Fun Fact

Winnowing has been used for over 10,000 years as a fundamental grain processing technique, and the basic principle remains unchanged in modern agricultural methods.

Source: Definition backfill (hailey)

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