From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishsievesieve1 /sɪv/ noun [countable] 1 
a) DFUa round wire kitchen tool with a lot of small holes, used for separating solid food from liquid or small pieces of food from large pieces b) TZa round wire tool for separating small objects from large objects2 → have a memory like a sieve
a) DFUa round wire kitchen tool with a lot of small holes, used for separating solid food from liquid or small pieces of food from large pieces b) TZa round wire tool for separating small objects from large objects2 → have a memory like a sieveExamples from the Corpus
sieve• Now place a sieve over a big bowl.• Press a sieve gently over the surface to create a textured effect.• Strain cooking liquid through a fine sieve into a pot.• Strain the sauce through a fine-mesh sieve and pour into a sauce boat.• Force chilies through a food mill or sieve, straining out seeds and skins.• Or put some ice cubes in the sieve before straining the soup, Roraback suggests.• Pleased with the way dust has settled on the sieves.• The fines continue to be washed through the sieve until the water runs clear.sievesieve2 verb [transitive] DFCto put flour or other food through a sieve Sieve the flour and cocoa powder into a bowl.→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
sieve• Then they are stoneground or mechanically milled and sieved.• Liquidise or sieve half the soup and return it to the pot with the remainder.• Liquidise the soup and then sieve it.• Purée and sieve remaining fruit, and pour over turned-out pudding before serving.• They sieved the tides of fate.• Josh shuffled off down the lip of the basin still sieving the water.• Stone the prunes, sieve them, with any remaining juice.Origin sieve1 Old English sife 