▪ I. winnow, n.
(ˈwɪnəʊ)
Also 6 -owe.
[f. next.]
1. A contrivance for winnowing grain, etc.; a winnowing-fan or the like.
| 1580 H. F. Pelegrom. Syn. Sylva 126 A Fan or a Winnowe. 1766 Compl. Farmer s.v. Threshing, The casting-shovel is much more expeditious than..the common winnow with sails. 1818 R. P. Knight Symb. Lang. 132 Osiris has the winnow in one hand, and the hook of attraction in the other. 1890 Sci. Amer. 14 June 374/2 [Leaves of Palmyra palm] largely employed for making pans, bags, winnows [etc.]. |
2. An act of winnowing or a motion resembling it, as the swing of a pendent mass, the sweep of wings.
| 1802 Coleridge Picture 148 How solemnly the pendent ivy-mass Swings in its winnow. 1829 Good's Study Med. (ed. 3) III. 454 Some degree of humidity..which should be swept away by the winnow of a stirring breeze. a 1851 Moir Birth of Flowers v, From every winnow of her wings. |
▪ II. winnow, v.
(ˈwɪnəʊ)
Forms: α. 1 windwian, 2 windwin, 3 -en, Orm. winndwenn, 4 wyn-, windewe, wyndwe, 4–5 wyndowe, 4–7 windowe, 5 wyndou, -oe, 5–6 wyndo, (6 wyendo, wyondo, Sc. vyndou, wando), 5– (now north. dial.) window (9 winder). β. 4–5 wynwe, wynnewe, 4–6 wynewe, 5 wynou, wenowe, 5–6 wynowe, 6 wynew, wynnow(e, winowe, Sc. wonnow, 6–7 winnowe, (8 dial. winner), 6– winnow.
[OE. windwian, f. wind wind n.1; cf. OE. windwiᵹceaf chaff, windwiᵹsife winnowing-sieve. Other verbal formations of the same meaning are Goth. diswinþjan to scatter like chaff, ON. vinza (:—*windisôjan), and L. ventilare (f. ventus wind). See also wind v.3]
1. trans. To expose (grain or other substances) to the wind or to a current of air so that the lighter particles (as chaff or other refuse matter) are separated or blown away; to clear of refuse material by this method.
| α a 900 O.E. Martyrol. 7 Mar. 36 He..corn þærsc & þæt windwode. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 85 In þe deie of liureisun hwense god almihtin wule windwin þet er wes iþor[s]chen. c 1200 Ormin 1530 Þa winndwesst tu þin þrosshenn corn. a 1225 Ancr. R. 270 Ane wummon..þet windwede hweate. c 1400 Mandeville xiii. (1919) I. 71 He..let wyndwe the askes in the wynd. c 1420 Liber Cocorum (1862) 7 Þen wyndo hit wele, nede þou mot. 1469 Plumpton Corr. (Camden) 21 Also that you gar the malt be windowd. 1549 Rec. Elgin (New Spald. Cl. 1903) I. 96 Quhatsumever personn was apprehendit wandoand corne in the hie gett. 1579 Nottingham Rec. IV. 190 No mann shall wyndo aney corne in the strettes. 1614 Manchester Crt. Leet Rec. (1885) II. 296 Inconvenience by ye often vsinge to Windowe..Corne in the Streets. 1729 P. Walkden Diary (1866) 45 Windowed my wheat the chaff out of it. |
| β 1382 Wyclif Ruth iii. 2 In this nyȝt he wynnewith the flore of his barli. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 530/1 Wynwyn' (P. wynowin), ventilo. c 1450 Mirk's Festial 185 Then made he to take vp þe bonys..and bren hom, and aftyr wynou ham yn þe wynde. 1523–34 Fitzherb. Husb. §35 In some countreys..they do fan theyr corne,..if it be well wynowed or fande, it wyll be solde the derer. 1573–80 Tusser Husb. (1878) 125 More often ye turne, more pease ye out spurne, Yet winnow them in, er carrege begin. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. i. 400 And in the Sun your golden Grain display, And thrash it out, and winnow it by Day. 1825 Gentl. Mag. Mar. 216 It [sc. the coffee-berry] is then winnowed, and goes into the hands of the pickers. 1855 E. Forbes Lit. Papers ix. 231 The tea is afterwards winnowed and sifted, so as to free it from impurities. 1893 Bridges Winnowers v, A steady muffled din, By which we knew that threshed corn Was winnowing. |
b. fig. To subject to a process likened to the winnowing of grain, in order to separate the various parts or elements, esp. the good from the bad; hence, to clear of worthless or inferior elements.
| 1382 Wyclif Jer. li. 2 Y shal sende in to Babilon wyneweres [1388 wyndeweris] and thei shul wynewe [1388 wyndewe] it. 1548 Udall Erasm. Par. Luke iii. 15–18 He shall..there winnowe euery creature, triyng them with the wynde of the crosse and of afflictions. 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, iv. i. 194. 1613 ― Hen. VIII, v. i. 111. 1646 J. Whitaker Uzziah Ded. A 3 b, His [sc. Satan's] desire is to winnow you; if he can ruin you he knows he ruins the Kingdom. 1681 Dryden Abs. & Achit. i. 112 That Plot,..Not weigh'd or winnow'd by the Multitude, But swallow'd in the Mass. 1699 Bentley Phal. 407, I cannot abuse my Reader's Patience in winnowing and sifting it, since the whole is nothing but Chaff. 1829 Southey Sir T. More (1831) I. 335, I wish it had been deemed advisable to have winnowed the Kalendar. 1844 H. H. Wilson Brit. India III. 456 After winnowing the list and excluding those who were considered not entitled to vote. 1875 Merivale Gen. Hist. Rome lxix. 563 The storm had no doubt the effect of winnowing the multitude of professing disciples. |
c. absol. or intr.
| c 1200 Ormin 10483 Þat ure Laferrd Iesu Crist... Himm shollde brinngenn inn hiss hannd hiss winndell forr to winndwenn. 1388 Wyclif Ecclus. v. 11 Wyndewe thee not in to ech wynd. 1573–80 Tusser Husb. (1878) 56 Some vseth to winnow, some vseth to fan. 1621 J. Taylor (Water P.) Superbiæ Flagellum C 1 b, Plant, graft, hedg, ditch, thresh, winnow, buy & sel. 1647 Fuller Good Th. in Worse Times 92 He would Fan, as he doth winnow. 1825 Yorks. Garland etc. 16 Ah can milk, kern, fother, beeak, brew, sheear, winder. 1852 Mrs. E. M. Pitman Mission Life in Greece (1881) 145 To help them so to winnow that they cast not away the wheat with the chaff. |
2. trans. (with that which is separated as obj.) a. To separate or drive off (lighter or refuse particles) by the process described in 1; fig. to separate (the worthless part from the valuable); to get rid of, clear away, eliminate (something undesirable).
In the earliest quots. a literalism from L. ventilare.
| c 825 Vesp. Psalter xliii. 6 [xliv. 5] In ðe fiond ure we windwiað. 1382 Wyclif Deut. xxxiii. 17 In hem he shal wyndowe gentilys, vnto the teermes of the erthe. 1382 ― Jer. xlix. 36 Y shal wynewe [1388 wyndewe] them in to alle these windus. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) IV. 341 Þey..wynewede þe askes awey with þe wynde. c 1390 Form of Cury in Warner Antiq. Culin. (1791) 4 Hule hem wele, and windewe out the hulkes. 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. i. iii. 28 Distinction with a lowd and powrefull fan, Puffing at all, winnowes the light away. 1642 Milton Apol. Smect. xii. 53 Do but winnow their chaffe from their wheat, ye shall see their great heape shrink. 1781 Cowper Hope 417 Your office is to winnow false from true. 1869 Lowell Under the Willows 229 And lets the kind breeze, with its delicate fan, Winnow the heat from out his dank grey hair. 1884 Tennyson Becket i. i. 84 And all my doubts I fling from me like dust, Winnow and scatter all scruples to the wind. 1893 Liddon, etc. Pusey I. xvi. 359 The appointment..winnowed out the merely sentimental element from among adherents of the young Movement. |
b. To separate (the valuable part from the worthless); (now esp. with out) to extract, select, or obtain (something desirable) by such separation.
| 1611 Shakes. Cymb. v. v. 134 Giue answer to this Boy, and do it freely, Or..bitter torture shall Winnow the truth from falshood. 1647 May Hist. Parlt. i. vii. 73 These inventions were but sives, made of purpose to winnow the best men. 1685 Baxter Paraphr. N.T. Matt. iii. 12 He will winnow and throughly separate the wheat from the Chaff, the Faithful from the Rebellious. a 1797 H. Walpole Geo. II (1847) II. vii. 244, I live too near the times..to be able..to winnow the truth from such a variety of interested..relations. 1827 Scott Chron. Canongate Introd., In winnowing out the few grains of truth which are contained in this mass of empty fiction. 1843 Carlyle Past & Pr. ii. viii, To winnow out the man that is to govern them. 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. II. 905 Such persons are probably many, but there is no means of winnowing them out. |
c. To waft, diffuse. poet.
| 1764 Goldsm. Trav. 122 While sea-born gales their gelid wings expand To winnow fragrance round the smiling land. 1821 Clare Vill. Minstr. II. 22 The woolly clouds..Keep winnowing down their drifting sleet and snows. 1871 B. Taylor Faust I. i. 23 With wings that winnow blessing From Heaven through Earth I see them pressing. |
3. In various transf. uses (cf. L. ventilare and fan v. 2–5): a. † To brandish or flourish (obs.); to beat (the air) with or as with wings; to flap (the wings), to wave (the fins); also intr. or with cognate obj., to follow a course with flapping wings, or the like.
| 1579 Gosson Sch. Abuse Apol. (Arb.) 75 Players haue chosen such a Champion, as when I giue the Allarm, winnowes his weapon. 1667 Milton P.L. v. 270 He..Sailes between worlds & worlds, with steddie wing Now on the polar windes, then with quick Fann Winnows the buxom Air. 1728–46 Thomson Spring 745 Their self-taught wings Winnow the waving element. 1793 [see winnowing ppl. a.]. 1795 Burns ‘Now spring has clad the groves in green’ iv, The waken'd lav'rock..Winnowing blythe her dewy wings In morning's rosy eye. 1820 Shelley Prometh. Unb. ii. i. 27 Her sea-green plumes Winnowing the crimson dawn. 1844, 1856 [see winnowing vbl. n. 2]. 1852 L. A. Meredith My Home in Tasmania II. xviii. 252 Their [sc. owls'] ghostly shapes winnowing silently around in the twilight. 1865 [see winnowing ppl. a.]. 1873 Geikie Geol. Sketches iv. (1882) 78 In winnowing the air with his arms, he had struck against a waggon standing on the roadway. 1887 Newton in Encycl. Brit. XXII. 200/1 After..reaching a height at which it appears a mere speck, where it winnows a random zigzag course, it..shoots downwards. |
b. Of the air, etc.: trans. To fan with a breeze. intr. To blow fitfully or in gusts.
| 1796 Campbell Caroline ii. ix, Where, winnowed by the gentle air, Her silken tresses darkly flow. 1820 [see winnowing ppl. a.]. 1827 Clare Sheph. Cal. 7 Falling snows that winnow by. 1892 Amélie Rives Barbara Dering xxvii, Here upon this great crest a purer air came winnowing in. |