Sieve vs. Strain — What's the Difference?

A sieve, fine mesh strainer, or sift, is a device for separating wanted elements from unwanted material or for characterizing the particle size distribution of a sample, using a screen such as a woven mesh or net or perforated sheet material. The word "sift" derives from "sieve".

To pull, draw, or stretch tight

A utensil of wire mesh or closely perforated metal or plastic, used for straining, sifting, ricing, or puréeing.

(Physics) To cause distortion of (a body's parts or shape) by applying an external force; deform.

To pass through a sieve.

To exert, use, or tax to the utmost

To use a sieve; sift.

To injure or impair by overuse or overexertion; wrench

A device with a mesh bottom to separate, in a granular material, larger particles from smaller ones, or to separate solid objects from a liquid.

To damage or weaken by pressure or tension

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.

To force beyond the proper or reasonable limit

(obsolete) A kind of coarse basket.

To pass (a liquid) through a filtering agent such as a strainer.

(colloquial) A person, or their mind, that cannot remember things or is unable to keep secrets.

To draw off or remove by filtration

An intern who lets too many non-serious cases into the emergency room.

(Archaic) To embrace or clasp tightly; hug.

(category theory) A collection of morphisms in a category whose codomain is a certain fixed object of that category, which collection is closed under precomposition by any morphism in the category.

To make strong or steady efforts; strive hard

To strain, sift or sort using a sieve.

To contract or exert one's muscles to the utmost.

(sports) To concede; let in

To pull or push forcibly or violently

A utensil for separating the finer and coarser parts of a pulverized or granulated substance from each other. It consist of a vessel, usually shallow, with the bottom perforated, or made of hair, wire, or the like, woven in meshes.

To be or become wrenched or twisted

A kind of coarse basket.

To be subjected to great stress

A strainer for separating lumps from powdered material or grading particles

To pass through a filtering agent

Examine in order to test suitability;

The act of straining.

Check and sort carefully;

The state of being strained

Separate by passing through a sieve or other straining device to separate out coarser elements;

Extreme or laborious effort, exertion, or work

Distinguish and separate out;

A great or excessive demand or stress on one's body, mind, or resources

The state of being subjected to such demands or stresses

A wrench, twist, or other physical injury resulting from excessive tension, effort, or use.

(Physics) Any of several kinds of deformation of the dimensions of a body when subjected to stress, as axial strain or elastic strain.

An exceptional degree or pitch

A group of bacteria or viruses that are genetically distinct from other groups of the same species.

A group of cultivated plants or domestic animals of the same species that have distinctive characteristics but are not considered a separate breed or variety.

The collective descendants of a common ancestor; a race, stock, line, or breed.

Any of the various lines of ancestry united in an individual or a family; ancestry or lineage.

A kind or sort

An inborn or inherited tendency or character

An inherent quality; a streak

The tone, tenor, or substance of a verbal utterance or of a particular action or behavior

Often strains(Music) A passage of expression; a tune or an air

A passage of poetic and especially lyrical expression.

An outburst or a flow of eloquent or impassioned language.

(archaic) Race; lineage, pedigree.

(biology) A particular variety of a microbe, virus, or other organism, usually a taxonomically infraspecific one.

(figurative) Hereditary character, quality, tendency, or disposition.

Any sustained note or movement; a song; a distinct portion of an ode or other poem; also, the pervading note, or burden, of a song, poem, etc.

Language that is eloquent, poetic, or otherwise heightened.

(rare) A kind or sort (of person etc.).

(obsolete) Treasure.

(obsolete) The blood-vessel in the yolk of an egg.

The act of straining, or the state of being strained.

A violent effort; an excessive and hurtful exertion or tension, as of the muscles.

An injury resulting from violent effort; a sprain.

A dimensionless measure of object deformation either referring to engineering strain or true strain.

(obsolete) The track of a deer.

(obsolete) To hold tightly, to clasp.

To apply a force or forces to by stretching out.

To damage by drawing, stretching, or the exertion of force.

To act upon, in any way, so as to cause change of form or volume, as when bending a beam.

To exert or struggle (to do something), especially to stretch (one's senses, faculties etc.) beyond what is normal or comfortable.

To stretch beyond its proper limit; to do violence to, in terms of intent or meaning.

(transitive) To separate solid from liquid by passing through a strainer or colander

(intransitive) To percolate; to be filtered.

To make uneasy or unnatural; to produce with apparent effort; to force; to constrain.

To urge with importunity; to press.

(transitive) hug somebody; to hold somebody tightly.

(obsolete) To beget, generate (of light), engender, copulate (both of animals and humans), lie with, be born, come into the world.

Race; stock; generation; descent; family.

Hereditary character, quality, or disposition.

Rank; a sort.

A cultural subvariety that is only slightly differentiated.

The act of straining, or the state of being strained.

A violent effort; an excessive and hurtful exertion or tension, as of the muscles; as, he lifted the weight with a strain; the strain upon a ship's rigging in a gale; also, the hurt or injury resulting; a sprain.

A portion of music divided off by a double bar; a complete musical period or sentence; a movement, or any rounded subdivision of a movement.

A change of form or dimensions of a solid or liquid mass, produced by a stress.

Any sustained note or movement; a song; a distinct portion of an ode or other poem; also, the pervading note, or burden, of a song, poem, oration, book, etc.; theme; motive; manner; style; also, a course of action or conduct; as, he spoke in a noble strain; there was a strain of woe in his story; a strain of trickery appears in his career.

Turn; tendency; inborn disposition. Cf. 1st Strain.

To draw with force; to extend with great effort; to stretch; as, to strain a rope; to strain the shrouds of a ship; to strain the cords of a musical instrument.

To act upon, in any way, so as to cause change of form or volume, as forces on a beam to bend it.

To exert to the utmost; to ply vigorously.

To stretch beyond its proper limit; to do violence to, in the matter of intent or meaning; as, to strain the law in order to convict an accused person.

To injure by drawing, stretching, or the exertion of force; as, the gale strained the timbers of the ship.

To injure in the muscles or joints by causing to make too strong an effort; to harm by overexertion; to sprain; as, to strain a horse by overloading; to strain the wrist; to strain a muscle.

To squeeze; to press closely.

To make uneasy or unnatural; to produce with apparent effort; to force; to constrain.

To urge with importunity; to press; as, to strain a petition or invitation.

To press, or cause to pass, through a strainer, as through a screen, a cloth, or some porous substance; to purify, or separate from extraneous or solid matter, by filtration; to filter; as, to strain milk through cloth.

To make violent efforts.

To percolate; to be filtered; as, water straining through a sandy soil.

(physics) deformation of a physical body under the action of applied forces

Difficulty that causes worry or emotional tension;

A succession of notes forming a distinctive sequence;

(psychology) nervousness resulting from mental stress;

A special variety of domesticated animals within a species;

(biology) a group of organisms within a species that differ in trivial ways from similar groups;

A lineage or race of people

Injury to a muscle (often caused by overuse); results in swelling and pain

Pervading note of an utterance;

An effortful attempt to attain a goal

An intense or violent exertion

The act of singing;

To exert much effort or energy;

Test the limits of;

Use to the utmost; exert vigorously or to full capacity;

Separate by passing through a sieve or other straining device to separate out coarser elements;

Make tense and uneasy or nervous or anxious;

Stretch or force to the limit;

Remove by passing through a filter;

Rub through a strainer or process in an electric blender;

Alter the shape of (something) by stress;