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Siphon   Listen
noun
Siphon  n.  
1.
A device, consisting of a pipe or tube bent so as to form two branches or legs of unequal length, by which a liquid can be transferred to a lower level, as from one vessel to another, over an intermediate elevation, by the action of the pressure of the atmosphere in forcing the liquid up the shorter branch of the pipe immersed in it, while the continued excess of weight of the liquid in the longer branch (when once filled) causes a continuous flow. The flow takes place only when the discharging extremity of the pipe ia lower than the higher liquid surface, and when no part of the pipe is higher above the surface than the same liquid will rise by atmospheric pressure; that is, about 33 feet for water, and 30 inches for mercury, near the sea level.
2.
(Zool.)
(a)
One of the tubes or folds of the mantle border of a bivalve or gastropod mollusk by which water is conducted into the gill cavity.
(b)
The anterior prolongation of the margin of any gastropod shell for the protection of the soft siphon.
(c)
The tubular organ through which water is ejected from the gill cavity of a cephaloid. It serves as a locomotive organ, by guiding and confining the jet of water. Called also siphuncle.
(d)
The siphuncle of a cephalopod shell.
(e)
The sucking proboscis of certain parasitic insects and crustaceans.
(f)
A sproutlike prolongation in front of the mouth of many gephyreans.
(g)
A tubular organ connected both with the esophagus and the intestine of certain sea urchins and annelids.
3.
A siphon bottle.
Inverted siphon, a tube bent like a siphon, but having the branches turned upward; specifically (Hydraulic Engineering), a pipe for conducting water beneath a depressed place, as from one hill to another across an intervening valley, following the depression of the ground.
Siphon barometer. See under Barometer.
Siphon bottle, a bottle for holding aerated water, which is driven out through a bent tube in the neck by the gas within the bottle when a valve in the tube is opened; called also gazogene, and siphoid.
Siphon condenser, a condenser for a steam engine, in which the vacuum is maintained by the downward flow of water through a vertical pipe of great height.
Siphon cup, a cup with a siphon attached for carrying off any liquid in it; specifically (Mach.), an oil cup in which oil is carried over the edge of a tube in a cotton wick, and so reaches the surface to be lubricated.
Siphon gauge. See under Gauge.
Siphon pump, a jet pump. See under Jet, n.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Siphon" Quotes from Famous Books



... juices are red and are obtained from the Labrusca varieties, generally the Concord. When the juice comes from the presses, some manufacturers strain it to remove the coarse particles and then pour it directly into well-sterilized bottles; others siphon it off the sediment in the containers in which it is stored after the first pasteurization and pour it into pasteurized bottles. In either case, the bottles are securely corked and then repasteurized. The California ...
— Manual of American Grape-Growing • U. P. Hedrick

... woman's clothing. "One camera. "One light steel cage, large enough for you to stand in. "One stenographer (male sex). "One five-pound steel tank, with siphon and hose attachment. "One rifle and ammunition. "Three ounces rosium oxyde. "One ounce ...
— In Search of the Unknown • Robert W. Chambers

... no subject too big or too little for Susan to put into rhyme. Susan said that something inside of her was a gushing siphon of poems, anyway, and she just had to get them out of her system. And she told Keith that spring always made the siphon gush worse than ever, for some reason. She ...
— Dawn • Eleanor H. Porter

... formerly occupied by the second mate, stood ajar, and here by the dull light of an oil lantern, he saw Campbell tied hand and foot to a chair. He was placed close to a little table whereon sat a bottle of whisky, a siphon of seltzer, a tall glass, meat, bread, water—everything, in fact, with which the senses of the starving man could be tormented. And near him, sitting with elbows spread out on the edge of the table, ...
— Harrigan • Max Brand

... squid had awakened to furious activity. It was lashing the water with arms and tail, angrily snapping its great beak and ejecting streams of black water from its siphon-tube. The water was violently agitated and ...
— The Boy Scouts Book of Stories • Various

... cloth was audible the enthusiastic smacking sound inspired by this suggestion. When a butler had appeared with bottles, glasses, and siphon one of the bottles was handed back; thereafter the silent partner could be heard imbibing long ...
— Tales of the Jazz Age • F. Scott Fitzgerald

... voice answered him from the place he swore at, and certain machinery, also in the firmament, began to clack, and the glittering, steel-shod nose of that trunk burrowed into the wheat, and the wheat quivered and sunk upon the instant as water sinks when the siphon sucks, because the steel buckets within the trunk were flying upon their endless round, carrying away each its ...
— American Notes • Rudyard Kipling

... strewn upon the bottom, to the depth of two inches, and ten gallons of sea-water were then poured in. This had been brought from one of the wharves, at high tide, twenty-four hours previously, and twice drawn off with a siphon,—each time after twelve hours' rest. It was not, however, perfectly translucent, and at the end of a week was still cloudy. On the fifth day after the tank was filled, I began to introduce the animals to ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 1, No. 4, February, 1858 • Various

... closed circuits of circular or rectangular shape are required. A similar problem is involved in apparatus like the ordinary Soxhlet extractor, where a small tube is joined to the side of a large one, bent to form a siphon, and attached again to a continuation of the original large tube. The difficulty in all such cases is to provide for the contraction taking place as the last joint cools. If part of the circuit has the shape of the letter S, or is a spiral, the natural springiness ...
— Laboratory Manual of Glass-Blowing • Francis C. Frary

... by means of gills. Water enters through a big hole under the head, passes over the gills, and out again through a funnel, or siphon. Now the Octopus can make good use of this siphon. Sometimes he is attacked, and wishes to "make himself scarce." So he sends the water rapidly through the siphon; the force is enough to jerk him quickly backwards, his "arms" ...
— Within the Deep - Cassell's "Eyes And No Eyes" Series, Book VIII. • R. Cadwallader Smith

... not only is excellent nourishment for the child, but it quiets the stomach, allays irritability, and frequently favors sleep, during which time a cure very often results. The champagne must be drawn through a champagne siphon (procured in the drug store), and the bottle must be kept on ice with the mouth downward; otherwise it will get stale very quickly and be of no use. If kept as advised it will remain good ...
— The Eugenic Marriage, Volume IV. (of IV.) - A Personal Guide to the New Science of Better Living and Better Babies • Grant Hague

... occasion to wake Bones from his beauty sleep before, but he had never been as bad as this. He took a soda siphon from the little sideboard and depressed the lever, holding the outlet above ...
— The Keepers of the King's Peace • Edgar Wallace

... physical action observed in the fish. A long piece of rubber tube was attached to one of the pieces of glass tube, and brought over the edge of the glass front of an aquarium. The long rubber tube was set in action as a siphon and the sheet of rubber placed against the glass. As long as water was running through the siphon the sheet of rubber remained pressed against the glass and supported. As soon as the current of water was stopped ...
— Hormones and Heredity • J. T. Cunningham

... heart of the pit. It was a deep hole, 30 feet down, perhaps, and strewn with rubbish and fragments of the iron rocks. But what was worth more to us, aye, than a barrel of gold, was the sweet, fresh air which came to us through a tunnel's mouth as by a siphon from the open sea herself; and, blowing freshly on our faces, sent us quickly down towards it with glad cries and the spirits of men who have broken a ...
— The House Under the Sea - A Romance • Sir Max Pemberton

... a Doctor Funk by Count Polonsky, who told me it was made of a portion of absinthe, a dash of grenadine,—a syrup of the pomegranate fruit,—the juice of two limes, and half a pint of siphon water. Dr. Funk of Samoa, who had been a physician to Robert Louis Stevenson, had left the receipt for the concoction when he was a guest of the club. One paid half a franc for it, and it would restore ...
— Mystic Isles of the South Seas. • Frederick O'Brien

... also of his design, the siphon recorder, he began by taking advantage of the fact, observed long before by Bose, that a charge of electricity stimulates the flow of a liquid. In its original form the ink-well into which the siphon dipped ...
— Little Masterpieces of Science: - Invention and Discovery • Various

... say that the shock of the addition of his whole business to the great Pharmacy across the way scarcely disturbed a soda siphon. ...
— Moonbeams From the Larger Lunacy • Stephen Leacock

... are divided into lengths of about three feet, which are made up into bundles, and carried to the mill, to be crushed between rollers. In the process of crushing, the juice runs down into a reservoir, from which, after a while, it is drawn through a siphon; that is to say, the clear fluid is taken from the scum. This fluid undergoes several processes of drying and refining; the methods varying in different manufactories. There are some large establishments engaged in sugar-refining in the neighbourhoods of Blackwall and Bethnal ...
— The Book of Household Management • Mrs. Isabella Beeton

... would have expected to meet my maternal uncle in the guise of a schoolboy? Yet I managed to decant his characteristics as nicely as the old gentleman would have decanted a bottle of Juno Madeira through that long siphon which he always used when the most sacred vintages were summoned from their crypts to render an account of themselves on his hospitable board. It was a nice business, I confess, but I did it, and I drink cheerfully to that ...
— A Mortal Antipathy • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

... the top-milk may be removed in as short a time as four hours. In the case of bottled milk it makes little difference if it stands a longer time, even until the next day. The best means of removing it is by a small cream-dipper[2] holding one ounce; although it may be taken off by a spoon or siphon. It should ...
— The Care and Feeding of Children - A Catechism for the Use of Mothers and Children's Nurses • L. Emmett Holt

... horn for Henderson," said Ratliff, with a jerk of his thumb. "He's half seas over already and shipping a lot of water." Henderson, the convivial member, was on his third siphon. ...
— The Flyers • George Barr McCutcheon

... very long and rather broad linear rugose (or ciliated ?) tentacula; mantle produced into a long siphon; foot very large, expanded, truncate in front, bearing the operculum near its posterior extremity, but not accompanied by filamentous processes or lobes. A float. (Mus. ...
— Voyage Of H.M.S. Rattlesnake, Vol. 2 (of 2) • John MacGillivray

... an hour, siphon the clear liquid and filter by means of a paper, in order to have a perfectly clear solution. This should be kept away from ...
— A Journey Through France in War Time • Joseph G. Butler, Jr.

... table was not continuous, or even enlivened. After the lapses into silence became marked, Theron began to suspect that his refusal to drink wine had annoyed them—the more so as he had drenched a large section of table-cloth in his efforts to manipulate a siphon instead. He was greatly relieved, therefore, when Father Forbes explained in an incidental way that Dr. Ledsmar and he customarily ate their meals almost without ...
— The Damnation of Theron Ware • Harold Frederic

... was draining a glass, and as he set it down he shuddered. A siphon and a whisky bottle stood before him. He measured out the portion of another peg, the bottle wavering in his hand. His food lay untouched about his plate. There was no disgust in Ruth's heart, only an infinite pity; for only the ...
— The Ragged Edge • Harold MacGrath

... and to make sure that gas from the water pipes is given an adequate exit and compelled to make use of it. The old-style washout closet was a pretty good assurance that the one gas would get in and that the other could not get out. The siphon closet of recent manufacture seems to be a much more dependable sort of contraption, though we need not accept as gospel the makers' assertion that ...
— The Complete Home • Various

... table were a decanter, a siphon, and a water-jug. Mixing some whiskey, he uncorked the tube, again he glanced apprehensively towards the door, then with a very nervous hand dropped two tabloids into ...
— The Masquerader • Katherine Cecil Thurston

... over to the table where the smoking things were and the decanter of whiskey and siphon of soda. "Let me have a look...." He picked up the decanter and held it to the light. "The last time I looked at it, it came just to the top of the design here,—and it does yet. Yes, it's just where ...
— Play the Game! • Ruth Comfort Mitchell

... studied at St. Peter's College, Cambridge; was senior wrangler in 1845, and elected professor of Natural Philosophy in Glasgow in 1846; it is in the departments of heat and electricity he has accomplished his greatest achievements, and his best-known work is the invention of the siphon-recorder for the Atlantic cable, on the completion of which, in 1866, he was knighted, to be afterwards raised to the peerage in 1892; he has invented a number of ingenious and delicate scientific ...
— The Nuttall Encyclopaedia - Being a Concise and Comprehensive Dictionary of General Knowledge • Edited by Rev. James Wood

... been removed after standing a certain number of hours in a milk bottle or any other tall vessel with straight sides. It contains most of the cream and varying amounts of milk. It may be removed by a small cream dipper which holds one ounce, or it may be taken off with a siphon, but it should never be poured off. To obtain seven per cent top milk which is the one most ordinarily used in the preparation of top milk formulas, we take off varying amounts—according to the quality of the milk—which ...
— The Mother and Her Child • William S. Sadler

... shell slowly backwards and forwards with a sort of circular rocking motion, he gradually bores his way into the object of his affections, getting rid of the refuse he excavates by the aid of a natural siphon that runs through his body, and by means of which he blows all his waste borings away—curious, ...
— Bob Strong's Holidays - Adrift in the Channel • John Conroy Hutcheson

... matters recalled M. de Nueil to France. His father and brother died, and he was obliged to leave Geneva. The lovers bought the house; and if they could have had their way, they would have removed the hills piecemeal, drawn off the lake with a siphon, and taken everything ...
— The Deserted Woman • Honore de Balzac

... is at best a petty piece of machinery. It is oyster-like in its functioning, or, perhaps better, clam-like. It has its little siphon of thought-processes forced up or down into the mighty ocean of fact and circumstance; but it uses so little, pumps so faintly, that the immediate contiguity of the vast mass is not disturbed. Nothing of the subtlety of life ...
— The Financier • Theodore Dreiser

... to make you comfortable myself," she said. She pulled a big armchair round; placed a reading-lamp on a small table and drew it close; and she made the old soldier sit in the chair. Then she unlocked a little cupboard, and got out a decanter and siphon and glass, and a box of cigars. She placed these by his side, and stood back quizzically a second. Then she threw a big leather cushion at his feet and walked to the switches, turning off the main light and leaving only the shaded radiance of the reading-lamp. She turned the shade of it so that the ...
— Simon Called Peter • Robert Keable

... water, and inverting it, placed its mouth beneath the surface of the same fluid in another vessel. I next removed the water from the receiver by breathing into it. This was done by filling the lungs with air, which, after being retained a short time in the chest, was exhaled through a siphon (a bent lead tube) into the receiver. I then introduced the lighted taper into the receiver of respired air, by which it was immediately extinguished. Several persons present then received a quantity of respired air into their lungs, whereupon the premonitory symptoms of apoplexy, as already ...
— Popular Education - For the use of Parents and Teachers, and for Young Persons of Both Sexes • Ira Mayhew



Words linked to "Siphon" :   tube, tubing, zoological science, zoology, siphon off, draw, pose, lay, syphon, organ, place



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