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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



... in there," he said, "also the whisky, if my laundress has left any, and a siphon and there should be some claret—Mrs. Bragg doesn't care about red wine. Set the table, and I'll take a root round in the kitchen and ...
— The Yellow Streak • Williams, Valentine

... 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

... hold my own with the partridges," Duncombe admitted, helping himself from the siphon, "but come ...
— A Maker of History • E. Phillips Oppenheim

... Geysers of Iceland, the 'Strokr,' and the spring of the Devil's Canon, the 'Witches' Caldron', are the results of volcanic action; but that action differs essentially in its operation. The 'Strokr' and the 'Great Geyser' are intermittent, and are accounted for by the siphon theory: the 'Witches' Caldron' is always full and boiling, and no difference is seen in it from one year's end ...
— The Continental Monthly, Vol. 6, No 3, September 1864 - Devoted To Literature And National Policy • Various

... of recent openings is that of Mr. Galsworthy's Silver Box. The curtain rises upon a solid, dull, upper-middle-class dining-room, empty and silent, the electric lights burning, the tray with whiskey, siphon and cigarette-box marking the midnight hour. Then we have the stumbling, fumbling entrance of Jack Barthwick, beatifically drunk, his maudlin babble, and his ill-omened hospitality to the haggard loafer who follows at his heels. Another example of a high-pitched opening ...
— Play-Making - A Manual of Craftsmanship • William Archer

... was living on the Taylor Street side of Russian Hill. When the quake came, his daughter, who had lived in Japan and learned wise measures, immediately filled the bathtub with water. A doomed grocery-store near by asked customers to help themselves to goods. My friend chose a dozen large siphon bottles of soda water. The house was detached and for a time escaped, but finally the roof caught from flying embers and the fire was slowly extending. When the time came to leave the house a large American flag was raised to a conspicuous staff. A company of soldiers sent from the Presidio ...
— A Backward Glance at Eighty • Charles A. Murdock

... masquerades. Again they look like diminutive flocks of fowl, their heads ever pointing in one direction, no matter how the vine may twist and turn - always toward the top of the branch, that they may the better siphon the sap down their tiny throats. Toward the end of summer the females, which have a sharp instrument at the rear of their bodies, cut deeply into the juicy food-store, the cambium layer of bark, and there deposit their ...
— Wild Flowers, An Aid to Knowledge of Our Wild Flowers and - Their Insect Visitors - - Title: Nature's Garden • Neltje Blanchan

... were hung in the kitchen, and the four pocket aneroids were hung by the side of them. All six were read at the daily observations at 8 a.m., 2 p.m., and 8 p.m. The normal barometer, the instructions for which were missing, was used as a siphon barometer, both the mercury levels being read, and the bottom screw being locked fast; the usual mode of reading it, on the other hand, is to set the lower level at zero on the scale by turning the bottom screw at every observation, whereupon the ...
— The South Pole, Volumes 1 and 2 • Roald Amundsen

... change; but on the third day the strange gasteropod unfolded both himself and the mystery. From his long embrace fell the shell of a Mactra, nearly as broad as his own. Near the hinge was a smooth, round hole, through which the poor Clam had been sucked. Foot, stomach, siphon, muscles, all but a thin strip of mantle, were gone. The problem of the Natica's existence was solved, and the verification was found in more than one Buccinum minus the animal,—the number of the latter victims ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Volume 2, Issue 11, September, 1858 • Various

... boxes, and lay out the machines, to show them to the sultan. Accordingly, on the third, I was sent for, and I exhibited the following experiments; viz. head and wig; dancing images; electric stool; cotton fired; small receiver and stand; hemispheres; Archimedes' screw; siphon; Tantalus's cup; water-pump; condensing engine, &c. Captain Dovetoun was present, and explained, as I went on, to the sultan, who has given us an instance of his being acquainted with some of these experiments. He has ...
— Tales & Novels, Vol. 2 • Maria Edgeworth

... the water that was permitted to enter may be pumped out. As a temporary arrangement, a thin rubber tubing is inserted through a hole in the lower deck and allowed to hang outside the water-level. The siphon can then be formed by simply drawing the water up by suction with the lips. A continuous flow will result, emptying the hull within ...
— Boys' Book of Model Boats • Raymond Francis Yates

... wide veranda of the country club alone, with a siphon and a fancy, square, black bottle, sat Judge Thomas Van Dorn. He was in his shirt sleeves. His wilted collar, grimy and bedraggled, lay on the floor beside him. He was laughing at something not visible to the waiter, who sat drowsing in the door ...
— In the Heart of a Fool • William Allen White

... 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 ...
— The Damnation of Theron Ware • Harold Frederic

... while reading some obscene volume." "His Manfred is a libel on Byron, who was a libel on God." And even Schumann is a vanishing star, a literary man turned composer, a pathological case. But, as I have said, a serious idea runs through all this concerto for slapstick and seltzer siphon, and to me, at least, that idea has a plentiful reasonableness. We are getting too much melodrama, too much vivisection, too much rebellion—and too little music. Turn from Tschaikowsky's Pathetique or from any of his wailing tone-poems to Schubert's ...
— A Book of Prefaces • H. L. Mencken

... 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 ...
— Popular Education - For the use of Parents and Teachers, and for Young Persons of Both Sexes • Ira Mayhew



Words linked to "Siphon" :   set, place, lay, zoological science, draw, pose, take out



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