Wordnet 3.0
NOUN (1)
1.
a filter to retain larger pieces while smaller pieces and liquids pass through;
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Strainer \Strain"er\, n.
1. One who strains.
[1913 Webster]
2. That through which any liquid is passed for purification
or to separate it from solid matter; anything, as a screen
or a cloth, used to strain a liquid; a device of the
character of a sieve or of a filter; specifically, an
openwork or perforated screen, as for the end of the
suction pipe of a pump, to prevent large solid bodies from
entering with a liquid.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
strainer
n 1: a filter to retain larger pieces while smaller pieces and
liquids pass through
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
27 Moby Thesaurus words for "strainer":
clarifier, colander, cradle, cribble, cribriformity, cribrosity,
filter, honeycomb, lixiviator, net, percolator, porosity,
porousness, purifier, refiner, refinery, riddle, rocker, screen,
sieve, sievelikeness, sifter, sponge, winnow, winnowing basket,
winnowing fan, winnowing machine