Winnow

winnow







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–verb (used with object) 

1. to free (grain) from the lighter particles of chaff, dirt, etc., esp. by throwing it into the air and allowing the wind or a forced current of air to blow away impurities.

2. to drive or blow (chaff, dirt, etc.) away by fanning.

3. to blow upon; fan.

4. to subject to some process of separating or distinguishing; analyze critically; sift: to winnow a mass of statements.  



sift

–verb (used with object) 

1. to separate and retain the coarse parts of (flour, ashes, etc.) with a sieve.



5. to separate or distinguish (valuable from worthless parts) (sometimes fol. by out): to winnow falsehood from truth. 

6. to pursue (a course) with flapping wings in flying.

7. to fan or stir (the air) as with the wings in flying. 



–verb (used without object) 

8. to free grain from chaff by wind or driven air.

9. to fly with flapping wings; flutter. 



–noun 

10. a device or contrivance used for winnowing.

11. an act of winnowing. 



Origin:

bef. 900; ME win(d)wen (v.), OE windwian, deriv. of wind  





　

The "new" New World, however, has only 16 or so minutes shorn from its original 150, the cuts winnowing [away] at the most easily mocked ingredients: the repetitive forest idylls, and the acres of poesy narration. 



But the trims are targeted only at the restless: Malick's movie is essentially intact, and though run through with misjudgments (the voiceover ellipses from The Thin Red Line are still overused and mawkish) it remains a beatific, fabulously Rousseauian experience. 



It's as easy to get caught up in Malick's rapturous wilderness ballet as it is to deride it later, but it's a different sort of historical film: one whose heart breaks for the onslaught of civilization. 



onslaught 

–noun 

an onset, assault, or attack, esp. a vigorous one.



But lest we think we're dealing with a post-Disney snow job, it should be noted that Malick faults the anxious Powhatans for first attacking the Jamestown settlers—when in fact they waited 12 years after the Brits slaughtered an outlying tribe, and, anyway, the bitterness began, with the village-burning Grenville expedition of 1585, 22 years before John Smith even landed. 



snow job

–noun Slang. 

an attempt to deceive or persuade by using flattery or exaggeration. 





waft

The gentle [breeze] wafted the sound of music to our ears. 

The actress wafted [kisses] to her admirers in the audience.  

most readily [calls] to mind Polanski in his "The Tenant" mode, with [echoes] of Hitchcock, Lynch, Kafka and Dostoyevsky wafting [through] as well 

jejune

a jejune [novel] [diet]  

there is something [jejune], even [juvenile], about the snarl and arrogance of its conceit

Idealism and defensiveness both propel his [jejune] political and literary pronouncements—he declares himself a Fourierist,



phlegmatic

phlegmatic as ever, Samantha Morton. (The best gag in the film is that Hazel’s home is forever on [fire]

sedate

We just got him sedated.

valerian

How many drops? Of the valerian?

Raucous