pipette
Americannoun
verb (used with object)
noun
verb
Etymology
Origin of pipette
From French, dating back to 1830–40; see origin at pipe 1, -ette
Explanation
One of the tools in a chemistry lab is a pipette, a glass tube used to move liquids. If you were examining a chemical under your microscope, you'd use a pipette to put a drop on your slide. Some pipettes are used for measuring small amounts of liquid, but the most common use is transporting them from one place to another. When you squeeze a small bulb attached to the pipette, the vacuum you've created sucks fluid up into the slender glass instrument. Think of an eye dropper, the most commonly-used type of pipette. The word comes from Middle French, in which it means "tube."
Vocabulary lists containing pipette
Power Suffix: -ette
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"The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Pipette tips aren’t the only laboratory items in short supply.
From New York Times • Jul. 23, 2020
"A hundred and fifty," he said, "is not much use for two, but it's a comfortable little sum for one; so Pipette is going to take it all."
From "Pip" A Romance of Youth by Hay, Ian
Then Tattie would cork up the tube and conduct Pipette, who had been sitting patiently in the Waiting Room, up the three stairs to the Consulting Room.
From "Pip" A Romance of Youth by Hay, Ian
"I suppose he can hear you," said Pipette anxiously.
From "Pip" A Romance of Youth by Hay, Ian
Very carefully Pip poured the soup into the cup-shaped receiver of the telephone, which Pipette held as steadily as her excitement would permit.
From "Pip" A Romance of Youth by Hay, Ian
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
