<B>sip, </B>verb, <B>sipped,</B> <B>sipping,</B> noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.t., v.i. </I> <B>1. </B>to drink little by little. <BR> <I>Ex. She sipped her tea.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) to take a mere taste of (something). <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a very small drink. <BR> <I>Ex. She took a sip of water. It [beer] can't be tasted in a sip (Dickens).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>the act of sipping. <BR> <I>Ex. His first sip brought an exclamation of disgust.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Figurative.) a mere taste. <BR> <I>Ex. A sip is all that the public ... ever care to take from reservoirs of abstract philosophy (Thomas De Quincey).</I> </DL>
<B>sipe</B> (2), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> any one of the small grooves that make up the tread pattern of an automobile tire. </DL>
<A NAME="siphon">
<B>siphon, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a bent tube through which liquid can be drawn over the edge of one container into another at a lower level by air pressure. <DD><B> 2. </B>a bottle for soda water with a tube through which the liquid is forced out by the pressure of the gas in the bottle. <DD><B> 3. </B>a tube-shaped organ of a clam, oyster, or certain other shellfish for drawing in and expelling water. <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to draw off by means of a siphon. <BR> <I>Ex. The farmer siphoned water from the cellar into the ditch.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative:) <BR> <I>Ex. The voters will decide whether to permit the state to siphon off surplus ... revenues to help solve the state's transportation problem (Wall Street Journal).</I> <DD><I>v.i. </I> to pass through a siphon. Also, <B>syphon.</B> noun <B>siphoner.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="siphonage">
<B>siphonage, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the action of a siphon. </DL>
<A NAME="siphonal">
<B>siphonal, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of or having to do with a siphon. </DL>
<A NAME="siphonate">
<B>siphonate, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> having a siphon or siphons. </DL>
<A NAME="siphonbarometer">
<B>siphon barometer,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a barometer with the lower end of the tube bent in the form of a siphon. </DL>
<B>siphonic, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B><B>=siphonal.</B> <DD><B> 2. </B>working by means of or on the principle of a siphon. </DL>
<A NAME="siphonophore">
<B>siphonophore, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> any one of a group of pelagic, free-swimming hydrozoans that form colonies made up of different types of polyps, such as the Portuguese man-of-war. <BR> <I>Ex. A siphonophore is not a single animal but a composite, or colony, of inseparably associated individuals--the multiple offspring of a single fertilized egg (New Yorker).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="siphonostele">
<B>siphonostele, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Botany.) vascular tissue in the form of a hollow tube with the pith in the center. </DL>
<A NAME="siphonostelic">
<B>siphonostelic, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of or having to do with siphonostele. </DL>
<A NAME="siphuncle">
<B>siphuncle, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>(Zoology.) a small tube passing through the partitions in the shell of certain cephalopods. <BR> <I>Ex. The siphuncle, a coiled fleshy tube enclosed in a limy covering, extends through all the chambers, connecting them with the body of the nautilus (William J. Clench).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Entomology.) either of two small tubular organs on the abdomen of an aphid, through which a waxy secretion is exuded. </DL>
<A NAME="siphuncular">
<B>siphuncular, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of, having to do with, or like a siphuncle. </DL>
<A NAME="siphunculate">
<B>siphunculate, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> having a siphuncle. </DL>
<B>sipid, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>having a pleasing taste or flavor. <DD><B> 2. </B>of agreeably distinctive character. </DL>
<A NAME="sipper">
<B>sipper, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a person who sips or drinks. <DD><B> 2. </B>a straw for sipping liquid from a glass or bottle. </DL>
<A NAME="sippet">
<B>sippet, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a bit of toast or fried bread, such as is served in soup, as a garnish, etc. <DD><B> 2. </B>a bit; fragment. </DL>
<A NAME="sippio">
<B>sippio, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a game like bagatelle, played with eight balls, driven into numbered holes or pockets by means of a cue ball struck with an ordinary cue. </DL>
<A NAME="sippydiet">
<B>Sippy diet,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a diet for the treatment of peptic ulcer by frequent feedings of small amounts of milk, cream, alkaline powders, cereal, eggs, and some other bland foods. </DL>
<A NAME="sipunculid">
<B>sipunculid, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> any one of a group of elongated, tentacled marine worms that live in sand or mud, either within snail shells or free. </DL>
<A NAME="siquaerispeninsulamamoenam,circumspice">
<B>si quaeris peninsulam amoenam, circumspice,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Latin.) if you seek a pleasant pennisula, look about you (the motto of Michigan). </DL>
<A NAME="sir">
<B>sir, </B>noun, verb, <B>sirred,</B> <B>sirring.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a title of respect or honor used to a man. A boy calls an older man "sir." <BR> <I>Ex. It's very kind of you, sir.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>Mr. or Master (often used in scorn, contempt, or indignation). <BR> <I>Ex. You, sir, have no business here; get out.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>a title of respect formerly used before a man's name or a noun designating his profession. <BR> <I>Ex. I am one that would rather go with sir Priest than sir Knight (Shakespeare).</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>a lord or gentleman. In olden times, <I>sir</I> was equivalent to <I>sire.</I> <DD><I>v.t., v.i. </I> to address as sir. <BR> <I>Ex. You mustn't sir me (Graham Greene).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="sir">
<B>Sir, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a form of salutation in a letter addressed to a man. We begin business letters with "Dear Sir." <DD><B> 2. </B>the title of a knight or baronet. <BR> <I>Ex. Sir Walter Scott.</I> <DD> (Abbr:) Sr. <DD><B> 3. </B>a title of respect or honor, used to a man. </DL>
<A NAME="sir">
<B>SIR</B> (no periods),<DL COMPACT><DD> Submarine Intermediate Reactor (a nuclear reactor used in nuclear-powered submarines, utilizing liquid sodium metal as the heat exchanger). </DL>
<A NAME="sircar">
<B>sircar, </B>noun. =sirkar.</DL>
<A NAME="sirdar">
<B>sirdar, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a military chief or leader in India. <DD><B> 2. </B>a chief or headman in India. <DD><B> 3. </B>the British commander of the Egyptian army in former times. <DD><B> 4. </B>an Indian valet or servant. </DL>
<A NAME="sire">
<B>sire, </B>noun, verb, <B>sired,</B> <B>siring.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1a. </B>a male ancestor; forefather. <BR> <I>Ex. Strike--for the green graves of your sires! (Fitz-Greene Halleck).</I> <DD><B> b. </B>a male parent; father. <BR> <I>Ex. No children run to lisp their sire's return (Thomas Gray).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>the male parent. <BR> <I>Ex. Lightning was the sire of the race horse Danger.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>a title of respect used formerly to a great noble and now to a king. <BR> <I>Ex. "I am killed, Sire," said the messenger to Napoleon.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>(Obsolete.) a lord; master. <DD><I>v.t. </I> to be the father of; beget. <BR> <I>Ex. Lightning sired the race horse Danger.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="siredon">
<B>siredon, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a salamander in its larval state, especially an axolotl. </DL>
<A NAME="siree">
<B>siree, </B>noun. =sirree.</DL>
<A NAME="sireless">
<B>sireless, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Archaic.) without a sire; fatherless. </DL>
<A NAME="siren">
<B>siren, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a kind of whistle that makes a loud, piercing sound. <BR> <I>Ex. a police siren, an air-raid siren. We heard the sirens of the fire engines.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>Also, <B>Siren.</B> (Greek and Roman Legend.) any one of a group of nymphs who, by their sweet singing, lured sailors to destruction upon the rocks. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Figurative.) any woman who lures, tempts, or entices. <BR> <I>Ex. ... that pretty little girl who used to live just around the corner, has returned to town ... a full-fledged siren (New Yorker).</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>any one of a genus of aquatic, eellike amphibians with small forelimbs, no hindlimbs, and three pairs of external gills that remain even after the lungs are formed. <DD><I>adj. </I> of or like a siren; tempting; charming. <BR> <I>Ex. siren words, siren charms. The siren call of alleged panaceas (New York Times).</I> (SYN) bewitching, alluring. adj. <B>sirenlike.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="sirenian">
<B>sirenian, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> any one of a small order of herbivorous sea mammals with forelimbs shaped like paddles and no hindlimbs. They are distinguished from whales by their rounded, unnotched tails. Manatees and dugongs are sirenians. <DD><I>adj. </I> of or having to do with this order. </DL>
<B>siren song,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a call or song of enticement; something which attracts a person irresistibly. <BR> <I>Ex. Africa's siren song to aluminum manufacturers isn't emanating from the Belgian Congo alone, by any means (Wall Street Journal).</I> </DL>
<B>sirgang, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a crested, crowlike bird of southern Asia, with light-green to blue feathers. </DL>
<A NAME="sirian">
<B>Sirian, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of or having to do with Sirius. </DL>
<A NAME="siriasis">
<B>siriasis, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B><B>=sunstroke.</B> <DD><B> 2. </B>exposure to the sun for medical purposes; sun bath; insolation. </DL>
<A NAME="sirius">
<B>Sirius, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the brightest (fixed) star in the sky, in the constellation Canis Major; Dog Star. </DL>
<A NAME="sirkar">
<B>sirkar, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (in India) the government; the state. Also, <B>sircar.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="sirloin">
<B>sirloin, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a cut of beef from the part of the loin in front of the rump and round. <DD><B> 2. </B>a beefsteak cut from the portion of the loin immediately in front of this, beginning at the hip joint. Also, <B>surloin.</B> </DL>
