siphon
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Siphon
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Middle French siphon, from Old French sifon, from Latin sipho, from Ancient Greek σίφων (síphōn, “pipe, tube”), of uncertain origin; possibly related to Latin tibia (“pipe, flute of bone”), with the irregular forms suggesting a non-Indo-European loan source, perhaps of the shape *twi-, *twibh.
Pronunciation
- Rhymes: -aɪfən
- IPA(key): /ˈsaɪfən/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Noun
siphon (plural siphons)
- A bent pipe or tube with one end lower than the other, in which hydrostatic pressure exerted due to the force of gravity moves liquid from one reservoir to another.
- 1891, Charles Hilton Fagge, Philip Henry Pye-Smith, Text‐book of the Principles and Practice of Medicine, volume II, page 199:
- The asserted fact that free hydrochloric acid is absent from the fluid removed by a siphon in cases of cancer of the stomach has been lately much discussed in Germany, and Dr Van der Welden, of Strassburg, introduced an alcoholic solution of tropæolin as a test with this object.
- A soda siphon.
- (zoology) A tubelike organ found in animals or elongated cell found in plants.
- 1962, Fish Bulletin, numbers 118-130, Department of Fish and Game, page 48:
- As a result, although corbinas commonly utilize mollusks, they are limited to the siphons, foot, or other soft parts that either extend from the shell or can be picked from it.
Derived terms
Translations
bent pipe or tube with one end lower than the other
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Verb
siphon (third-person singular simple present siphons, present participle siphoning, simple past and past participle siphoned)
- (transitive) To transfer (liquid) by means of a siphon.
- He used a rubber tube to siphon petrol from the car's fuel tank.
- (transitive, by extension) To transfer directly.
- 2012 Sep, Rupert Christiansen, “Quiet, Please”, in Literary Review:
- Today's teenagers are siphoning dangerous levels of membrane-damaging noise directly into their eardrums, with long-term effects that otologists prophesy will be disastrous for their hearing and lead to an epidemic of middle-aged deafness in the next thirty years.
- (transitive, figurative, often with "off") To steal or skim off something, such as money, in small amounts; to embezzle.
- 2009, Alan Dean Foster, Montezuma Strip, →ISBN:
- In Juchipila power to the whole community of thirty thousand evaporated as the supraheavy grid buried alongside the little mountain cantina siphoned energy from the entire west-central portion of the Namerican national power net.
- 2010, John Townsend, Now What Do I Do?:
- Attempting to “unfeel” whatever you feel is a huge drain on your energy, and that effort can siphon off the power you need to crunch your problem.
Derived terms
Translations
transfer by means of a siphon
See also
References
- Roberts, Edward A. (2014) A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Spanish Language with Families of Words based on Indo-European Roots, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN
Anagrams
Etymology
From Latin sīphō from Ancient Greek σίφων (síphōn, “pipe, tube”), of unknown ultimate origin.
Pronunciation
Audio: (file)
Noun
siphon m (plural siphons)
Derived terms
Further reading
- “siphon”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
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