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. (Science: zoology) 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. The anterior prolongation of the margin of any gastropod shell for the protection of the soft siphon.
3. A siphon bottle.
(Science: physics) inverted siphon, a tube bent like a siphon, but having the branches turned upward; specifically, 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 Gauge. Siphon pump, a jet pump. See Jet.
Origin: F. Siphon, L. Sipho, -onis, fr. Gr. A siphon, tube, pipe.