siphon
(also syphon) /ˈsaɪfən/ verb [T]Definition
› to take money, especially dishonestly, and use it for a purpose for which it was not intended: siphon off funds/millions/moneysiphon sth from sth He siphoned €600,000 from company accounts to pay for his secret lifestyle.siphon sth away Millions of dollars of city funds were siphoned away in the form of fake property tax refunds.
› NATURAL RESOURCES to remove a liquid from one place and put it in another using a pipe or tube: The government decided to scrap its plan to siphon water from the North-East of the country to the parched South.
(Definition of siphon verb from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary
© Cambridge University Press)
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