siphon
or sy·phon
a tube or conduit bent into legs of unequal length, for use in drawing a liquid from one container into another on a lower level by placing the shorter leg into the container above and the longer leg into the one below, the liquid being forced up the shorter leg and into the longer one by the pressure of the atmosphere.
a projecting tubular part of some animals, especially certain mollusks, through which liquid enters or leaves the body.
to convey, draw, or pass through or as if through a siphon (sometimes followed by off): to siphon water; to siphon off profits into a secret bank account.
Origin of siphon
1Other words from siphon
- si·phon·al, si·phon·ic [sahy-fon-ik], /saɪˈfɒn ɪk/, adjective
- si·phon·less, adjective
- si·phon·like, adjective
- pseu·do·si·phon·al, adjective
- pseu·do·si·phon·ic, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use siphon in a sentence
What they found was a piece of spyware siphoning data and creating audio files of voice calls.
A Double Agent App Targets Hong Kong’s Protesters | Jacob Siegel | October 1, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTHe also worried that enlistment terms would soon run out on several thousand of his soldiers, siphoning away his strength.
Atlanta’s Fall Foretold The End Of Civil War Bloodshed | Marc Wortman | September 1, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThink about how Ralph Nader elected George W. Bush in 2000, for instance, by siphoning off a small number of votes in Florida.
To many Americans, pouring aid dollars into a developing country may seem like siphoning cash into a black hole.
5 Ways to Put Global Poverty Back on (Whichever) President’s Agenda | Jamie M. Zimmerman | September 22, 2012 | THE DAILY BEASTHe scanned files, photos, and videos, siphoning off anything sexually compromising.
The increased depth of the lower portion of the valve prevents siphoning, which takes place in valves of the ordinary form.
Use stomach pump if possible, or empty stomach with rubber tube and funnel, siphoning fluids out.
With a rubber hose for siphoning in his hand, the boy climbed the steep bank.
Riddle of the Storm | Roy J. SnellSuch a connection prevents the possibility of siphoning the traps, as it gives an outward air connection.
Convenient Houses | Louis Henry Gibson(k) The apparatus must be constructed so that accidental siphoning of water will be impossible.
Acetylene, The Principles Of Its Generation And Use | F. H. Leeds
British Dictionary definitions for siphon
syphon
/ (ˈsaɪfən) /
a tube placed with one end at a certain level in a vessel of liquid and the other end outside the vessel below this level, so that liquid pressure forces the liquid through the tube and out of the vessel by gravity
See soda siphon
zoology any of various tubular organs in different aquatic animals, such as molluscs and elasmobranch fishes, through which a fluid, esp water, passes
(often foll by off) to pass or draw off through or as if through a siphon
Origin of siphon
1Derived forms of siphon
- siphonage, noun
- siphonal or siphonic (saɪˈfɒnɪk), adjective
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for siphon
[ sī′fən ]
A pipe or tube in the form of an upside-down U, filled with liquid and arranged so that the pressure of the atmosphere forces liquid to flow upward from a container through the tube, over a barrier, and into a lower container.
A tubular animal part, as of a clam, through which water is taken in or expelled.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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