n.
- A tube that carries a liquid from a higher level up and over a barrier and then down to a lower level, with the flow maintained by gravity and atmospheric pressure as long as the tube remains filled.
- Zoology. A tubular organ, especially of aquatic invertebrates such as squids or clams, by which water is taken in or expelled.
v., -phoned, also -phoned, -phon·ing, -phon·ing, -phons, -phons. v.tr.
To draw off or convey through or as if through a siphon.
v.intr.
To pass through a siphon.
[Middle English, from Latin sīphō, sīphōn-, from Greek sīphōn.]
siphonal si'phon·al or si·phon'ic (sī-fŏn'ĭk) adj.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
