pipette

/paɪˈpɛt/

Other forms: pipettes

One of the tools in a chemistry lab is a pipette, a glass tube used to move liquids. If you were examining a chemical under your microscope, you'd use a pipette to put a drop on your slide.

Some pipettes are used for measuring small amounts of liquid, but the most common use is transporting them from one place to another. When you squeeze a small bulb attached to the pipette, the vacuum you've created sucks fluid up into the slender glass instrument. Think of an eye dropper, the most commonly-used type of pipette. The word comes from Middle French, in which it means "tube."

Definitions of pipette

1. noun

   measuring instrument consisting of a graduated glass tube used to measure or transfer precise volumes of a liquid by drawing the liquid up into the tube
   synonyms: pipet

   types:

   dropper, eye dropper

   pipet consisting of a small tube with a vacuum bulb at one end for drawing liquid in and releasing it a drop at a time

   type of:

   measuring device, measuring instrument, measuring system

   instrument that shows the extent or amount or quantity or degree of something