Wiktionary

siphon

See also: Siphon

English

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 siphon on Wikipedia
 

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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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

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Noun

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siphon (plural siphons)

  1. 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.
  2. A soda siphon.
  3. (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

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Translations

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Verb

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siphon (third-person singular simple present siphons, present participle siphoning, simple past and past participle siphoned)

  1. (transitive) To transfer (liquid) by means of a siphon.
    He used a rubber tube to siphon petrol from the car's fuel tank.
  2. (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.
  3. (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

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Translations

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See also

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References

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  • 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

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French

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French Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia fr

Etymology

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From Latin sīphō from Ancient Greek σίφων (síphōn, “pipe, tube”), of unknown ultimate origin.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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siphon m (plural siphons)

  1. siphon

Derived terms

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Further reading

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