Siphon
noun
A tube used to draw liquid from a container by the force of gravity.
The man used a siphon to drain the fish tank.
Often appears as...
- siphon off
- siphon tube
verb
To take and use for yourself unfairly or dishonestly.
She siphoned money from the company for years without getting caught.
Often appears as...
- siphon off funds
- siphon off resources
Usage tips
Disapproving
verb
To draw a liquid from one location to another through a tube.
We need to siphon the old engine oil out before we can add the new one.
Often appears as...
- siphon out
- siphon into
noun
A tube used to draw liquid from a container by the force of gravity.
The man used a siphon to drain the fish tank.
Often appears as...
- siphon off
- siphon tube
verb
To take and use for yourself unfairly or dishonestly.
She siphoned money from the company for years without getting caught.
Often appears as...
- siphon off funds
- siphon off resources
Usage tips
Disapproving
verb
To draw a liquid from one location to another through a tube.
We need to siphon the old engine oil out before we can add the new one.
Often appears as...
- siphon out
- siphon into
Definition 1 of 3
Pro Tip 1/3Gravity Dependent
The noun form of 'siphon' relies on gravity to work, like sucking liquid through a straw.
The mechanic needed a siphon to empty the gasoline tank.
Pro Tip 2/3Flow Direction
'Siphon' implies a liquid moving from a higher area to a lower one without a pump.
After the rain, we used a siphon to remove water from the cover.
Pro Tip 3/3Initiating Process
Starting a siphon may require suction to begin the liquid flow.
He started the siphon by sucking on the tube.
Pro Tip 1/3Gravity Dependent
The noun form of 'siphon' relies on gravity to work, like sucking liquid through a straw.
The mechanic needed a siphon to empty the gasoline tank.
Pro Tip 2/3Flow Direction
'Siphon' implies a liquid moving from a higher area to a lower one without a pump.
After the rain, we used a siphon to remove water from the cover.
Pro Tip 3/3Initiating Process
Starting a siphon may require suction to begin the liquid flow.
He started the siphon by sucking on the tube.
Pro Tip 1/3Gravity Dependent
The noun form of 'siphon' relies on gravity to work, like sucking liquid through a straw.
The mechanic needed a siphon to empty the gasoline tank.
Pro Tip 2/3Flow Direction
'Siphon' implies a liquid moving from a higher area to a lower one without a pump.
After the rain, we used a siphon to remove water from the cover.
Pro Tip 3/3Initiating Process
Starting a siphon may require suction to begin the liquid flow.
He started the siphon by sucking on the tube.
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Video examples
What is economic value,...
But it's not surprising that because they were actually living through an industrial era with the rise of machines and factories, they said it was industrial labor. So they had a labor theory of value. But again, their focus was reproduction, this real worry of what was happening to the value that was created if it was getting siphoned out.
Video examples
Are spotty fruits and...
Some of these microbes are beneficial to the plant, suppressing disease and helping it extract nutrients. Others are pathogens, attacking the produce, still alive as it sits in a store display or your refrigerator and siphoning off molecules they can use themselves. The good news is they're almost never bad for you.
Video examples
A simple way to tell...
have completely different kinds of mouths than their adult versions, like caterpillars, which use chewing mouthparts to devour leaves before metamorphosing into butterflies and moths with siphoning mouthparts. Still, mouthpart identification can, for the most part, help scientists—and you —categorize insects.
Video examples
Giant Monsters of the...
the clam provides the LG with protection in exchange for skimming a little algae off the top for the midnight snack never one to pass up a free meal the giant clams also filter feed on plankton using their siphons to draw water in and out over their gills
Video examples
Peter Eigen: How to...
this is an absolute damaging, a terrible project -- not to speak about the future indebtedness of the country for these hundreds of millions of dollars, and the siphoning off of the scarce resources of the economy from much more important activities
Video examples
Monsters of the Deep PIPE...
the algae with protection in exchange for skimming a little algae off the top for the midnight snack never one to pass up a free meal the giant clams also filter feed on plankton using their siphons to draw water in and out over
Video examples
Octopus In The Living...
octopuses adapt their environments around them to their own liking they clean out a hole under a rock or in a crevice blowing out sand and debris with their siphon and at that point it's not just shelter
Video examples
Mosquito Attack! PIPE...
ready to join the billions of airborne blood suckers a female may live about a hundred days by the way only females insert their blood siphon into your skin and drink your life essence they need a
Video examples
The Mosquito PIPE National...
ready to join the billions of airborne bloodsuckers a female may live about a hundred days by the way only females insert their blood siphon into your skin and drink your life essence they need a
Video examples
Full Moon Blood Suckers...
of airborne bloodsuckers a female may live about a hundred days by the way only females insert their blood siphon into your skin and drink your life essence they need a blood meal in order
Video examples
What is economic value,...
But it's not surprising that because they were actually living through an industrial era with the rise of machines and factories, they said it was industrial labor. So they had a labor theory of value. But again, their focus was reproduction, this real worry of what was happening to the value that was created if it was getting siphoned out.
Video examples
Are spotty fruits and...
Some of these microbes are beneficial to the plant, suppressing disease and helping it extract nutrients. Others are pathogens, attacking the produce, still alive as it sits in a store display or your refrigerator and siphoning off molecules they can use themselves. The good news is they're almost never bad for you.
Video examples
A simple way to tell...
have completely different kinds of mouths than their adult versions, like caterpillars, which use chewing mouthparts to devour leaves before metamorphosing into butterflies and moths with siphoning mouthparts. Still, mouthpart identification can, for the most part, help scientists—and you —categorize insects.
Video examples
Giant Monsters of the...
the clam provides the LG with protection in exchange for skimming a little algae off the top for the midnight snack never one to pass up a free meal the giant clams also filter feed on plankton using their siphons to draw water in and out over their gills
Video examples
Peter Eigen: How to...
this is an absolute damaging, a terrible project -- not to speak about the future indebtedness of the country for these hundreds of millions of dollars, and the siphoning off of the scarce resources of the economy from much more important activities
Video examples
Monsters of the Deep PIPE...
the algae with protection in exchange for skimming a little algae off the top for the midnight snack never one to pass up a free meal the giant clams also filter feed on plankton using their siphons to draw water in and out over
Video examples
Octopus In The Living...
octopuses adapt their environments around them to their own liking they clean out a hole under a rock or in a crevice blowing out sand and debris with their siphon and at that point it's not just shelter
Video examples
Mosquito Attack! PIPE...
ready to join the billions of airborne blood suckers a female may live about a hundred days by the way only females insert their blood siphon into your skin and drink your life essence they need a
Video examples
The Mosquito PIPE National...
ready to join the billions of airborne bloodsuckers a female may live about a hundred days by the way only females insert their blood siphon into your skin and drink your life essence they need a
Video examples
Full Moon Blood Suckers...
of airborne bloodsuckers a female may live about a hundred days by the way only females insert their blood siphon into your skin and drink your life essence they need a blood meal in order
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Deborah Eisenberg
American Writer
For me, most writing consists of siphoning out useless pre-story matter, cutting and cutting and cutting, what seems to be endless rewriting, and what is entailed in all that is patience, and waiting, and false starts, and dead ends, and really, in a way, nerve.
Quote examples
Frank Rich
American Journalist
In the bubble decade, making money as an end in itself boomed as a calling among students at elite universities like Harvard, siphoning off gifted undergraduates who might otherwise have been scientists, teachers, doctors, entrepreneurs, artists or inventors.
Quote examples
John F. Tierney
American Politician
We cannot continue to ask the brave men and women of our Armed Forces to put their lives on the line to protect our country while we jeopardize their safety by failing to ensure that Defense Department funds are not siphoned off to warlords in Afghanistan.
Quote examples
Gary Wolf
American Journalist
Human attention is limited, and a massive number of newly browsable books from the long tail necessarily compete with the biggest best-sellers, just as cable siphons audience from the major networks, and just as the Web pulls viewers from TV.
Quote examples
Marianne Williamson
American Author
Tax breaks and other financial breaks that favor the wealthiest among us do not create greater prosperity for all; they simply siphon off more and more money to those who already have it, and more and more money away from those who do not.
Quote examples
Ellen Burstyn
American Actress
I do like to work with young directors because it's such a difficult business that I think after directors have been around a while sometimes, not always, but sometimes their passion gets siphoned off because they get hurt.
Quote examples
Darell Hammond
American Businessman
Our country's growing obsession with organized sports isn't just hurting our children, but also our communities. As play is siphoned off to gyms and fields, fewer kids are playing in our streets, parks, and playgrounds.
Quote examples
Marvin Ammori
American Lawyer
Internet users should be able to choose where to go online and which applications to use. Comcast, say, shouldn't be allowed to block Skype just because it could siphon the communications giant's telephone business.
Quote examples
Orson Bean
American Actor
God is being siphoned out of the public arena. People don't even say God bless you when you sneeze anymore. I want to be able to lay a Merry Christmas on someone without its feeling like a political statement.
Quote examples
Mona Simpson
American Author
Often, I think, displaced people imagine themselves leading double lives. So a portion of my identity has always been privately siphoned into what would have been if I had stayed in Wisconsin.
Quote examples
Deborah Eisenberg
American Writer
For me, most writing consists of siphoning out useless pre-story matter, cutting and cutting and cutting, what seems to be endless rewriting, and what is entailed in all that is patience, and waiting, and false starts, and dead ends, and really, in a way, nerve.
Quote examples
Frank Rich
American Journalist
In the bubble decade, making money as an end in itself boomed as a calling among students at elite universities like Harvard, siphoning off gifted undergraduates who might otherwise have been scientists, teachers, doctors, entrepreneurs, artists or inventors.
Quote examples
John F. Tierney
American Politician
We cannot continue to ask the brave men and women of our Armed Forces to put their lives on the line to protect our country while we jeopardize their safety by failing to ensure that Defense Department funds are not siphoned off to warlords in Afghanistan.
Quote examples
Gary Wolf
American Journalist
Human attention is limited, and a massive number of newly browsable books from the long tail necessarily compete with the biggest best-sellers, just as cable siphons audience from the major networks, and just as the Web pulls viewers from TV.
Quote examples
Marianne Williamson
American Author
Tax breaks and other financial breaks that favor the wealthiest among us do not create greater prosperity for all; they simply siphon off more and more money to those who already have it, and more and more money away from those who do not.
Quote examples
Ellen Burstyn
American Actress
I do like to work with young directors because it's such a difficult business that I think after directors have been around a while sometimes, not always, but sometimes their passion gets siphoned off because they get hurt.
Quote examples
Darell Hammond
American Businessman
Our country's growing obsession with organized sports isn't just hurting our children, but also our communities. As play is siphoned off to gyms and fields, fewer kids are playing in our streets, parks, and playgrounds.
Quote examples
Marvin Ammori
American Lawyer
Internet users should be able to choose where to go online and which applications to use. Comcast, say, shouldn't be allowed to block Skype just because it could siphon the communications giant's telephone business.
Quote examples
Orson Bean
American Actor
God is being siphoned out of the public arena. People don't even say God bless you when you sneeze anymore. I want to be able to lay a Merry Christmas on someone without its feeling like a political statement.
Quote examples
Mona Simpson
American Author
Often, I think, displaced people imagine themselves leading double lives. So a portion of my identity has always been privately siphoned into what would have been if I had stayed in Wisconsin.
Example 1 of 10
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