siphon
/ˈsʌɪf(ə)n
/(also syphon)
noun
1A tube used to convey liquid upwards from a reservoir and then down to a lower level of its own accord. Once the liquid has been forced into the tube, typically by suction or immersion, flow continues unaided.In the extinguisher, a plastic siphon tube leads from the bottom of the fire-suppressant reservoir to the top of the extinguisher....
- Keep a syphon tube in the boot incase you need to make a quick refill.
- Not one to waste time, I unscrewed the gas cap and slipped the siphon tube into the tank.
1.1 Zoology A tubular organ in an aquatic animal, especially a mollusc, through which water is drawn in or expelled.The way the siphon directs the water stream controls the animal's forward, backward, and sideways movements....
- To detect prey, a cone snail uses its siphon, an organ that takes up water and directs it over the gills.
- These animals are also more capable of avoiding coral overgrowth by greatly elongating their siphons.
verb [with object]
1Draw off or convey (liquid) by means of a siphon: a piece of tubing was used to siphon petrol a gravel cleaner that removes detritus without siphoning off water...
- If straining methods do not adequately filter out the fine particles and sediment from the liqueur, try siphoning off the clear liquid.
- You can recycle bath and washing water by using the garden hose to syphon the waste water onto the garden.
- The simplest solutions like siphoning the washing water onto the garden are the most effective in the long run.
1.1Draw off or transfer over a period of time, especially illegally or unfairly: he’s been siphoning money off the firm...
- He then began to illegally siphon his money from US bank accounts to offshore tax havens through a series of ingenious shell companies.
- The Government wants to siphon funds off and transfer them elsewhere.
- False claims of up to £1,000 a year appear to have been siphoned into fraudsters' bank accounts.
Derivatives
siphonage
- The port protector caps have a wick-type design to assure water passage through the siphonage drain lines.
- A loud sucking noise in the piping of a fixture indicates that there is a siphonage action which needs correction.
- If the hose is connected with an airtight joint, provision should be made to prevent syphonage.
siphonal
- Although similar in shape, with a relatively short siphonal canal, and with fine spiral and thicker axial ornamentation, the two genera differ in several respects, and are probably not closely related.
- The new genus Pentzia does not belong in Buscyon because Pentzia lacks the shallow sulcus that lies obliquely across the columella at the posterior end of the siphonal canal.
- Cardinal fossula normally deepens towards cardinal side of coral lum, essentially siphonal in tabularium and septal in inner marginarium.
siphonic
- The siphonic rainwater disposal system and the central valley gutter are always likely to be a cause of water penetration without regular and routine maintenance.
Origin
Late Middle English: from French, or via Latin from Greek siphōn 'pipe'. The verb dates from the mid 19th century.