Winnowとは 意味・読み方・使い方

語源

From 中期英語 wyndwen, from 古期英語 windwian (“to winnow, fan, ventilate”), from Proto-West Germanic *windwōn, from Proto-Germanic *windwōną, *winþijaną (“to throw about, winnow”), from Proto-Indo-European *wē- (“to winnow, thresh”). Cognate with West Frisian wynje (“to winnow”), dialectal Dutch winden, winnen (“to winnow”), Middle High German winden (“to winnow”), Icelandic vinsa (“to pick out, weed”), Latin vannus (“a winnowing basket”). See fan, van.

発音

• (米国発音) IPA: /ˈwɪnoʊ/
• (英国発音) IPA: /ˈwɪnəʊ/
• 韻: -ɪnəʊ

動詞

winnow (third-person singular simple present winnows, present participle winnowing, simple past and past participle winnowed)

1. (transitive, agriculture, literal) To subject (granular material, especially food grain) to a current of air separating heavier and lighter components, as grain from chaff.

   Synonym: wind

   • 1998 January 3, Sid Perkins, “Thin Skin”, in Science News, volume 165, number 1, page 11:

     [W]ind began to winnow the river delta's dried sediments.

2. (transitive, figuratively) To separate, sift, analyse, or test by separating items having different values.

   Synonym: comb out

   They winnowed the field to twelve.

   They winnowed the winners from the losers.

   They winnowed the losers from the winners.

3. (transitive, literary) To blow upon or toss about by blowing; to set in motion as with a fan or wings.
   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XVIII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 206:

     The light snow lay on the narrow and winding path before them, pure as if just fresh winnowed by the wind.

   • 1872, Elliott Coues, Key to North American Birds:

     Gulls average much larger than terns, with stouter build; the feet are larger and more ambulatorial, the wings are shorter and not so thin; the birds winnow the air in a steady course unlike the buoyant dashing flight of their relatives.

4. (intransitive, literary, dated) To move about with a flapping motion, as of wings; to flutter.

使用する際の注意点

• Used with the adverb or preposition down; see also winnow down.
• Used with the adverbs or prepositions through, away, and out.

下位語

• winnow down

派生語

名詞

winnow (plural winnows)

1. That which winnows or which is used in winnowing; a contrivance for fanning or winnowing grain.
2. The act of winnowing

参照

• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “winnow”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “winnow”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “winnow”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.