Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Filter?

\Fil"ter\, 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. {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}.
\Fil"ter\, 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. {Filtering paper}, or {Filter paper}, a porous unsized paper, for filtering.
\Fil"ter\, v. i. To pass through a filter; to percolate.
\Fil"ter\, n. Same as {Philter}.
filter p [] = [] filter p (x:xs) = if p x then x : rest else rest where rest = filter p xs