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Drain vs Sieve - What's the difference?

drain | sieve |

In obsolete|lang=en terms the difference between drain and sieve

is that drain is (obsolete) to filter while sieve is (obsolete) a kind of coarse basket.

As nouns the difference between drain and sieve

is that drain is a conduit allowing liquid to flow out of an otherwise contained volume while sieve is a device to , in a granular material, larger particles from smaller ones, or to separate solid objects from a liquid.

As verbs the difference between drain and sieve

is that drain is to lose liquid while sieve is to strain, sift or sort using a sieve.

drain

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • A conduit allowing liquid to flow out of an otherwise contained volume.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-03, volume=101, issue=2, page=114, magazine=(American Scientist)
  • , author=Frank Fish, George Lauder , title= Not Just Going with the Flow , passage=An extreme version of vorticity is a vortex . The vortex is a spinning, cyclonic mass of fluid, which can be observed in the rotation of water going down a drain , as well as in smoke rings, tornados and hurricanes.}}
  • An access point or conduit for rainwater that drains directly downstream in a (drainage) basin without going through sewers or water treatment in order to prevent or belay floods.
  • Something consuming resources and providing nothing in return.
  • (label) An act of urination.
  • (label) The name of one terminal of a field effect transistor (FET).
  • Derived terms

    * circle the drain * down the drain * drain fly

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To lose liquid.
  • The clogged sink drained slowly.
  • To flow gradually.
  • The water of low ground drains off.
  • (ergative) To cause liquid to flow out of.
  • Please drain the sink. It's full of dirty water.
  • (ergative) To convert a perennially wet place into a dry one.
  • They had to drain the swampy land before the parking lot could be built.
  • To deplete of energy or resources.
  • The stress of this job is really draining me.
  • To draw off by degrees; to cause to flow gradually out or off; hence, to exhaust.
  • * Francis Bacon
  • Fountains drain the water from the ground adjacent.
  • * Motley
  • But it was not alone that he drained their treasure and hampered their industry.
  • (obsolete) To filter.
  • * Francis Bacon
  • Salt water, drained through twenty vessels of earth, hath become fresh.
  • (pinball) To fall off the bottom of the playfield.
  • * 1990 , Steven A. Schwartz, Compute's Nintendo Secrets
  • When a ball finally drains , it's gulped down by a giant gator beneath the set of flippers.

    Derived terms

    * drainage * drain the lizard (vulgar)

    Anagrams

    *

    sieve

    English

    (wikipedia sieve)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A device to , in a granular material, larger particles from smaller ones, or to separate solid objects from a liquid.
  • Use the sieve to get the pasta from the water.
  • A process, physical or abstract, that arrives at a final result by filtering out unwanted pieces of input from a larger starting set of input.
  • * {{quote-web
  • , year = 2010 , author = Luke Mastin , title = 20TH CENTURY MATHEMATICS - ROBINSON AND MATIYASEVICH , site = www.storyofmathematics.com , url = http://www.storyofmathematics.com/20th_robinson.html , accessdate = 2013-09-08 }}
    Among, [sic ] his other achievements, Matiyasevich and his colleague Boris Stechkin also developed an interesting “visual sieve ” for prime numbers, which effectively “crosses out” all the composite numbers, leaving only the primes.
    Given a list of consecutive numbers starting at 1, the Sieve of Eratosthenes algorithm will find all of the prime numbers.
  • (obsolete) A kind of coarse basket.
  • (Simmonds)

    Derived terms

    * * * *

    Verb

    (siev)
  • To strain, sift or sort using a sieve.