A language that proves a standard syntax for email filters.

'Sieve' is also a bit of ice hockey slang used to describe a goalie who allows a lot of "soft" (easily stopped in most circumstances) goals. The term is rather derogatory, and should be reserved for opposing goaltenders, although this isn't always the case.

The term is best used when taunting a goaltender. The most common forms of usage are: "Hey Cechmanek, you're a fucking sieve who couldn't keep a beach ball out of the net!" or "Sieve! Sieve! Sieve! Sieve! Sieve! (repeat ad nauseam)" The latter of the two examples is most effective after a goaltender lets in a weak goal, especially when chanted by a whole section of drunken fans.

The term is thought to have originated from the saying "like water through a sieve," but its exact etymology likely will remain a mystery.

Sieve (?), n. [OE. sive, AS. sife; akin to D. zeef, zift, OHG. sib, G. sieb. &root;151a. Cf. Sift.]

1.

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.

"In a sieve thrown and sifted."

Chaucer.

2.

A kind of coarse basket.

Simmonds.

Sieve cells Bot., cribriform cells. See under Cribriform.

 

© Webster 1913.

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