syphon
Britishnoun
Explanation
A tube that's used to move liquid up and out of a container is known as a syphon. One way to remove water from a flooded basement is to use a powerful syphon. The word syphon, also spelled siphon, comes from a Greek root meaning "pipe" or "tube for drawing wine from a cask." Syphons work using the power of gravity to pull liquid out of one container and into another. The word is also a verb, meaning "to move using a syphon." Figuratively, you can use it for other kinds of emptying, like when you syphon coins out of your brother's piggy bank.
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.
It says any that escapes from the farm should be starved the nutrients the team plans to syphon up from the ocean depths to feed their crop.
From BBC • Oct. 15, 2022
Erminio pops it under the syphon and Ceil hands it to me.
From BBC • Dec. 9, 2012
A containment cap was then lowered on to the freshly cut end of the pipe, and BP now hopes to syphon oil up to the surface.
From The Guardian • Jun. 4, 2010
An earlier, larger, container was lowered last month but it became filled with ice crystals, and a syphon inserted into pipe did not manage to collect much oil.
From The Guardian • Jun. 4, 2010
“I shall never forget his face when Dick squirted the soda syphon down his back. We were all in fits.”
From "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier
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.
