Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible (1898)
WIN'NOW. The process of winnowing among the Hebrews was much like that sometimes in use at the present day. The grain was taken upon a shovel and thrown up in the wind, and the lighter chaff and straw separated, sometimes by the help of a fan. Isa 30:24; Isa 41:15-16; Matt 3:12. It was common to winnow grain at evening, when, in Palestine, the sea-breeze usually blows. Ruth 3:2. See Fax, Thresh.