GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

Found 4 definitions

1.       
   Filter (?), n. [F. filtre, the same word as feutre felt, LL. filtrum, feltrum, felt, fulled wool, this being used for straining liquors. See Feuter.] Any porous substance, as cloth, paper, sand, or charcoal, through which water or other liquid may passed to cleanse it from the solid or impure matter held in suspension; a chamber or device containing such substance; a strainer; also, a similar device for purifying air.
   
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   Filter bed, a pond, the bottom of which is a filter composed of sand gravel. -- Filter gallery, an underground gallery or tunnel, alongside of a stream, to collect the water that filters through the intervening sand and gravel; -- called also infiltration gallery.
   
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2.       
   Filter, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Filtered (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Filtering] [Cf. F. filter. See Filter, n., and cf. Filtrate.] To purify or defecate, as water or other liquid, by causing it to pass through a filter.
   
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   Filtering paper, or Filter paper, a porous unsized paper, for filtering.
   
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3.       
   Filter, v. i. To pass through a filter; to percolate.
   
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4.       
   Filter, n. Same as Philter.
   
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