<B>sifting, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the act of a person or thing that sifts. <BR><I>expr. <B>siftings,</B> </I>the parts of matter sifted out. <BR> <I>Ex. I would recommend to add to it ... either sand, lime rubbish, or lime siftings (Beck's Florist Journal).</I> </DL>
<B>sigh, </B>verb, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.i. </I> <B>1. </B>to let out a very long, deep breath because one is sad, tired, or relieved. <BR> <I>Ex. We heard her sigh with relief.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to make a sound like a sigh. <BR> <I>Ex. The wind sighed in the treetops. Nought but a lovely sighing of the wind (Keats).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>to wish very much; long. <BR> <I>Ex. She sighed for home and friends.</I> (SYN) yearn. <DD><B> 4. </B>to lament with sighing. <BR> <I>Ex. to sigh over one's unhappy fate.</I> <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to say or express with a sigh. <DD><B> 2. </B>to lament (an event or circumstance) with sighing. <DD><I>noun </I> the act or sound of sighing. <BR> <I>Ex. a sigh of relief.</I> noun <B>sigher.</B> adv. <B>sighingly.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="sight">
<B>sight, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1a. </B>the power of seeing; eyesight; vision. <BR> <I>Ex. Birds have better sight than dogs.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>mental or spiritual vision. <DD><B> 2a. </B>the act or fact of seeing; look. <BR> <I>Ex. One sight of the house was enough to make him want to buy it.</I> (SYN) glance, gaze. <DD><B> b. </B>examination; inspection; scrutiny. <BR> <I>Ex. a bill of sight.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>the range of seeing. <BR> <I>Ex. to lose sight of a plane. Land was in sight.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>a thing seen; view; glimpse (of something). <BR> <I>Ex. I caught a sight of him running around a corner.</I> <DD><B> 5a. </B>something worth seeing. <BR> <I>Ex. to see the sights of the city. Niagara Falls is one of the sights of the world.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>something that looks bad or odd. <BR> <I>Ex. She is a sight in that ugly dress.</I> <DD><B> 6. </B>(Figurative.) a way of looking or thinking; regard; estimation; judgment; opinion. <BR> <I>Ex. Dolls are very precious in a little girl's sight.</I> <DD><B> 7. </B>(Informal.) a great number of quantity. <BR> <I>Ex. a sight of people; ... an awful sight of money (Mark Twain).</I> <DD><B> 8. </B>an observation taken with a telescope or other instrument. <DD><B> 9. </B>a device, as on a gun or surveying instrument, to guide the eye in taking aim or observing. <BR> <I>Ex. the sights on a rifle.</I> <DD><B> 10. </B>the aim or observation taken by such devices. <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to see. <BR> <I>Ex. At last Columbus sighted land.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to look at through sights; point to; aim at. <BR> <I>Ex. to sight a star.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>to adjust the sight or align the sights of (a gun or instrument). <DD><B> 4. </B>to provide with a sight or sights. <DD><I>v.i. </I> to take aim or observation by means of a sight or sights. <BR> <I>Ex. The hunter sighted carefully before firing his gun.</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>a sight for sore eyes,</B> </I>a welcome or pleasing sight. <BR> <I>Ex. Elizabeth in the saddle must have been a sight for sore eyes (London Times).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>at first sight,</B> <DD><B> a. </B>as soon as seen; upon the first look. </I> <I>Ex. He fell in love with her at first sight.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>on a first or quick estimate. <BR> <I>Ex. At first sight the events of 1066 ... seem to offer an ideal subject for a writer (Listener).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>at sight,</B> <DD><B> a. </B>as soon as seen. </I> <I>Ex. She reads music at sight.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>as soon as presented; on demand. <BR> <I>Ex. Some banks will cash a check at sight.</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>catch sight of,</B> </I>to see. <BR> <I>Ex. I caught sight of them. As we drove by the harbor we caught sight of a large steamship.</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>heave in sight,</B> </I>to come into view as though rising above the horizon. <BR> <I>Ex. The great Spanish ships heave in sight, and a furious struggle begins (John R. Green).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>in sight of,</B> </I>where one can see or be seen by. <BR> <I>Ex. We live in sight of the school. After the long voyage, we were at last in sight of land. We are not yet in possession of ... peace, but for the first time we are fairly in sight of it (Spectator).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>know by sight,</B> </I>to know sufficiently to recognize when seen. <BR> <I>Ex. I know her by sight, but we have never spoken to each other.</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>lose sight of,</B> </I>to forget; overlook. <BR> <I>Ex. He never loses sight of the obstacles still to be overcome (Saturday Review).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>on sight,</B> </I>as soon as seen; at sight. <BR> <I>Ex. The fugitive lived in fear of being shot on sight.</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>out of sight,</B> </I>(Informal.) out of this world; wonderful. <BR> <I>Ex. Bibi thinks he's out of sight (F. P. Tullius).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>out of sight of,</B> <DD><B> a. </B>where one cannot see. </I> <I>Ex. Columbus was out of sight of land for several weeks.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>where one cannot be seen by. <BR> <I>Ex. out of sight of the neighbors.</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>sights,</B> </I>goals; objectives. <BR> <I>Ex. to raise or lower one's sights. The countries of these regions have set their sights on full schooling by 1980 (New Scientist).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>sight unseen,</B> </I>without seeing or examining (a person or thing) in advance. <BR> <I>Ex. She ordered the dress over the phone, sight unseen.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="sightbill">
<B>sight bill,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a bill payable at sight or on presentation. </DL>
<A NAME="sightboard">
<B>sightboard, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a white screen at the end of a cricket field for making the ball more easily visible to the batsman. </DL>
<A NAME="sightdraft">
<B>sight draft,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a written order from one bank to another, requiring a certain amount of money to be paid on demand. (Abbr:) s.d. </DL>
<A NAME="sighted">
<B>sighted, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>having sight or vision. <DD><B> 2. </B>having a sight or sights, as a firearm. <DD><I>noun </I> a person who has sight or vision. </DL>
<A NAME="sighted">
<B>-sighted,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (combining form.) having ______ sight. <BR> <I>Ex. Dimsighted = having dim sight.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="sightgag">
<B>sight gag,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S. Informal.) a wordless joke or prank that must be seen to be understood. </DL>
<A NAME="sighthole">
<B>sighthole, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a hole to see through in a surveying or other instrument. </DL>
<A NAME="sighthound">
<B>sight hound,</B> <B>=gazehound.</B></DL>
<A NAME="sighting">
<B>sighting, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>an act or instance of seeing. <BR> <I>Ex. Sea-serpent sightings have diminished of late (Time).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>the act of adjusting the sight or aligning the sights of a gun or instrument. <BR> <I>Ex. The rotation of the earth moves objects out of the field of vision before a sighting can be made and the camera put in place on a telescope (Science News Letter).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="sightless">
<B>sightless, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>unable to see; blind. <BR> <I>Ex. the sightless mole.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>unable to be seen; invisible. adv. <B>sightlessly.</B> noun <B>sightlessness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="sightline">
<B>sightline, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a straight line from the eye to the object looked at; line of sight. </DL>
<A NAME="sightliness">
<B>sightliness, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the state of being sightly; pleasing appearance; comeliness. </DL>
<A NAME="sightly">
<B>sightly, </B>adjective, <B>-lier,</B> <B>-liest.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>pleasing to the sight. (SYN) fair, handsome. <DD><B> 2a. </B>affording a fine view. <DD><B> b. </B>that can be seen from a distance. </DL>
<A NAME="sightread">
<B>sight-read, </B>transitive verb, intransitive verb.<DL COMPACT><DD> to read (music or a passage, usually in a foreign language) at first sight; engage or be skilled in sight reading. <BR> <I>Ex. Candidates must sight-read in addition to playing ... orchestral passages (Newsweek).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="sightreader">
<B>sight reader,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a person who is skilled in or capable of sight-reading music or a passage, especially one in a foreign language. </DL>
<A NAME="sightreading">
<B>sight reading,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a reading of a piece of music or passage in a foreign language at first sight. </DL>
<A NAME="sightrhyme">
<B>sight rhyme,</B> <B>=eye rhyme.</B></DL>
<A NAME="sightscreen">
<B>sightscreen, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Cricket.) a structure of canvas or wood behind the bowler, serving as a white background that enables the batsman to have a clear sight of the bail. </DL>
<A NAME="sightsee">
<B>sightsee, </B>intransitive verb, transitive verb, <B>-saw,</B> <B>-seen,</B> <B>-seeing.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> to go around to see objects or places of interest. <BR> <I>Ex. We all swam, ... sailed a little, sightsaw, and constructed castles in the sand (Moira Keenan). Eight tour buses a day visit the town, although there is little to sightsee besides a bank and a supermarket (Time).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="sightseeing">
<B>sightseeing, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> the action of going around to see objects or places of interest. <BR> <I>Ex. a weekend of sightseeing.</I> <DD><I>adj. </I> that goes around to see or show objects or places of interest. <BR> <I>Ex. a sightseeing tour, a sightseeing bus.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="sightseer">
<B>sightseer, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person who goes around to see objects or places of interest. </DL>
<A NAME="sightworthy">
<B>sightworthy, </B>adjective, <B>-thier,</B> <B>-thiest.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> worthy of being seen, or of being visited as a sight. </DL>
<A NAME="sigil">
<B>sigil, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>an occult mark or sign, as in astrology or magic. <BR> <I>Ex. Sign and sigil, word of power, From the earth raised keep and tower (Scott).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a seal or signet. </DL>
<A NAME="sigill">
<B>sigill.,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> seal (Latin, <I>sigillum</I>). </DL>
<A NAME="sigillary">
<B>sigillary, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> having to do with seals or signets. </DL>
