From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishsiphonsi‧phon1 (also syphon British English) /ˈsaɪfən/ noun [countable] 1 TDa bent tube used for getting liquid out of a container, used by holding one end of the tube at a lower level than the end in the container2 (also soda siphon)DFD a type of bottle for holding soda water, which is forced out of the bottle using gas pressuresiphonsiphon2 (also syphon British English) verb [transitive always + adverb/preposition] 1 (also siphon something ↔ off/out)REMOVE to remove liquid from a container by using a siphon It took him only a few minutes to siphon off the petrol and drive away.siphon something out of/from something Crews began siphoning oil from the leaking boat.2 (also siphon something ↔ off)BFSTEAL to dishonestly take money from a business, account etc to use it for a purpose for which it was not intended Emergency aid was siphoned off by foreign ministry officials for their own use.siphon something from something I found she had siphoned thousands of dollars from our bank account.→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
siphon• Boris Fyodorov survived the attack and returned to accuse senior Kremlin aides of siphoning cash out of the fund.• Jesse Jackson would siphon enough black votes to prevent Clinton from carrying any of the industrial midwestern states.• So funds will have to be siphoned from other areas of the Agriculture Department.• Vigilance is certainly required that funding allocated for the public good should not be siphoned off into private firms.• These include: Personnel: Salary differentials 20-30 percent over comparable civilian work tend to siphon off the better qualified.• Tanker trucks stood by the Charlestown Breachway Monday to siphon off the water surface any oil trapped by the booms.• Officials confirm that Kellys Slough has at times siphoned off up to half the flow of the Turtle River.• The remaining fragments are allowed to settle to the bottom and then siphoned out.siphon something out of/from something• Boris Fyodorov survived the attack and returned to accuse senior Kremlin aides of siphoning cash out of the fund.From Longman Business Dictionarysiphonsi‧phon /ˈsaɪfən/ (also syphon) verb [transitive] to dishonestly take money from a business, account etc and use it for a purpose for which it was not intendedsiphon something from/off somethingI later found she had siphoned thousands of dollars from our bank account.Corrupt officials had been siphoning off public funds for private business ventures.→ See Verb tableOrigin siphon1 (1300-1400) French Latin sipho “pipe, tube”, from Greek siphon 