Definition of "siphon" [si•phon]

• A pipe or tube fashioned or deployed in an inverted U shape and filled until atmospheric pressure is sufficient to force a liquid from a reservoir in one end of the tube over a barrier higher than the reservoir and out the other end. (noun)
• Zoology A tubular organ, especially of aquatic invertebrates such as squids or clams, by which water is taken in or expelled. (noun)
• To draw off or convey through or as if through a siphon. (verb-transitive)
• To pass through a siphon. (verb-intransitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The soda siphon is one of the standard Argentinian things to have around the house."
• "The car had no gas tank, and Ricardo had rigged a plastic siphon from a smaller tank under the dashboard."
• "Dr Stephen Hughes said he had discovered last year that the dictionary's definition of the word siphon, and most other dictionaries ', was incorrect."