Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
💸 To steal funds 💧 To remove liquid
to siphon off

to siphon off

2 6.6
To move liquid or money from one place to another slowly and often secretly
  • phrasal verb
  • /ˈsaɪfən ɔf/
translation icon : desviar
  • This is at the at the drill rig at the the leak closure and they were siphoning off material at that point.
  • siphoned off water

And so we're going to siphon off the page to get people on to watch, correct?

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • The phone company AT&T had agreed to let them siphon off the traffic that was moving through their cables.

  • Spain has set up the bad bank to siphon off toxic real estate assets from bank balance sheets that date from the property crash.

    Blog text (26)

  • We siphoned off all the gas.

    Diary of the Dead (2007)

  • Moreover, officials say, TIFS only siphon off 1.6 percent of the city's property tax base.

    Academic text (2000)

  • A team of powerful engines pumped water siphoned off from the Chattahoochee to a reservoir station four miles south.

    Academic text (2010)

  • So what we actually do is we siphon off a portion of the gas inside the main chamber and that's what actually drives our turbo pump.

  • A lesser, though still formidable, amount of water is siphoned off to slake the thirst of cities and industry, and when you add it all together, it's clear that people are using more than their fair share.

    Academic text (2007)

  • The workers siphoned off the excess fuel into a safe storage container.

  • They used a pump to siphon off the contaminated water from the reservoir.

  • To manage the budget more effectively, the company decided to siphon off some funds for the new project.

Synonyms

to drain
vsto siphon off
198 1.0

To let liquid flow away from something

includes moving nonliquid resources or money and adds the idea of secrecy or gradual loss
to divert
vsto siphon off
  • NSFW
56 6.8

To take money meant for something and put it somewhere else, often secretly

covers transfer of money or other resources and often happens gradually or secretly
to siphon
vsto siphon off
43 6.0

To move liquid from one container to another using a tube and gravity

applies more broadly to resources or money moved gradually or secretly

Antonyms

to add
∞ 1.0

Include something extra to make something larger or better

How Much

to siphon off
2 6.6
to skim
1 3.4

Surface Forms

siphon off infinitive
siphoned off past
siphoned off past participle
siphoning off present participle
siphons off third person singular

Morphology

siphon + off

The verb 'siphon' (to draw off) combined with 'off' (to remove) allows a learner who knows both words to infer that something is being drawn away or removed — so the core idea of diverting funds is compositional. However, the idiomatic implication of secretive or dishonest appropriation is a metaphorical extension and not fully predictable from the parts, so the expression is only partially transparent.

Etymology

Siphon off comes from using a tube called a siphon to pull liquid slowly from one container into another, with off showing the liquid goes away. So it means 'to remove or transfer' something, often slowly or quietly.