According to the reports, a physicist has discovered an error in the Oxford Dictionary that went unnoticed for 99 years.

He has discovered that the dictionary''s definition of the word "siphon" has been incorrect since 1911, claims Queensland University of Technology physicist Dr Stephen Hughes.

While the dictionary mentions that a siphon works due to atmospheric pressure, the actual force that works behind it is gravitational force.

The Sydney Morning Herald quoted Dr. Hughes as saying, "It is gravity that moved the fluid in a siphon, with the water in the longer downward arm pulling the water up the shorter arm."

He immediately alerted the dictionary's revision team just as they had finished revising words beginning with 'R'.

He said, "I thought, ''Oh good, just in time,'' because S is next."

The senior lecturer in physics discovered the error after viewing an enormous siphon in South Australia, transferring the equivalent of 4000 Olympic swimming pools from the Murray River system into the depleted Lake Bonney, brisbanetimes. com. au has reported.

He further added, "I thought this example would make a great education paper ... but in my background research I discovered there was much contention about the definition of the word ''siphon''. I found that almost every dictionary contained the same misconception that atmospheric pressure, not gravity, pushed liquid through the tube of a siphon." (With Inputs from Agencies)