siren

See also: Siren, sìrén, sīrén, and sǐrén

English

Alternative forms
John William Waterhouse, The Siren, c. 1900

Etymology

From Middle English, itself from Middle French sereine (itself from Late Latin sirena) and from Latin Sīrēn, ultimately from Ancient Greek Σειρήν (Seirḗn).

Pronunciation

Noun

siren (plural sirens or sirenes)

Examples
The sound of a civil defense siren(file)
  1. (Greek mythology) One of a group of nymphs who lured mariners to their death on the rocks.
  2. One who sings sweetly and charms.
  3. A dangerously seductive woman.
  4. (biology) A member of an order of mammals of Sirenia (first attested in French in Dominique Bouhours, Les entretiens d'Ariste et d'Eugène, 1671).
  5. (biology) A member of a genus of aquatic salamanders of the family Sirenidae (originally introduced by Linnaeus, 1766, for a genus of his reptiles), commonly used for all species subsumed under the family of Sirenidae.
  6. A device, either mechanical or electronic, that makes a piercingly loud sound as an alarm or signal, or the sound from such a device (first recorded 1879).
    • 1984, Steve Harris, "Aces High", Iron Maiden, Powerslave.
      There goes the siren that warns of the air raid / Then comes the sound of the guns sending flak / Out for the scramble we've got to get airborne / Got to get up for the coming attack.
  7. (music) A musical instrument, one of the few aerophones in the percussion section of the symphony orchestra (patented as Acme Siren in 1895).
  8. An instrument for demonstrating the laws of beats and combination tones.

Synonyms
  • (one who sings sweetly and charms): crooner
  • (dangerously seductive woman): See Thesaurus:vamp
  • (device for making a sound alarm): klaxon

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

siren (third-person singular simple present sirens, present participle sirening, simple past and past participle sirened)

  1. To make a noise with, or as if with, a siren.

Adjective

siren

  1. Relating to or like a siren.
    Synonyms: bewitching, enchanting, enticing, sirenic

References
  • Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield, Massachusetts, G.&C. Merriam Co., 1967

Anagrams
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