pan for gold; fruitless effort; extract essence
Meanings
2 senses · 5 examplesverb
to put in great effort but achieve little result; a thankless task
neutralOften used to describe endeavors that require exhausting labor for minimal reward, carrying a sense of frustration or futility.
Searching for minerals in this remote mountain area is simply like panning for gold in sand—a thankless task.
Extracting valid signals from so much noisy data is no different from panning for gold in sand.
verb
to sift through a large quantity of material to find the essence or gems; to pan for gold
neutralUsed positively to describe the careful, discerning selection of valuable content from abundant sources, emphasizing the value of the extracted material.
The editor panned for gold among the mountain of submissions and finally selected this masterpiece.
Studying history requires the spirit of panning for gold in order to discover truth from historical records.
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In this era of information explosion, the ability to pan for gold has become particularly important.