siren
Contents
English[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
- sirene (dated or archaic)
Etymology[edit]
From Middle English, itself from Middle French sereine (itself from Late Latin sirena) and from Latin Sīrēn, ultimately from Ancient Greek Σειρήν (Seirḗn).
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
siren (plural sirens or sirenes)
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- (Greek mythology) One of a group of nymphs who lured mariners to their death on the rocks.
- One who sings sweetly and charms (1580), a dangerously seductive woman.
- (biology) A common name for an order of mammals of Sirenia (first attested in French in Dominique Bouhours, Les entretiens d'Ariste et d'Eugène, 1671).
- (biology) 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 unter the family of Sirenidae.
- 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).
- (music) A musical instrument, one of the few aerophones in the percussion section of the symphony orchestra (patented as Acme Siren in 1895).
Synonyms[edit]
- (one who sings sweetly and charms): crooner
- (dangerously seductive woman): For semantic relationships of this sense, see vamp in the Thesaurus.
- (device for making a sound alarm): klaxon
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
nymph of Greek mythology
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device for making a sound alarm
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dangerously seductive woman
salamander
mammal
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Verb[edit]
siren (third-person singular simple present sirens, present participle sirening, simple past and past participle sirened)
- To make a noise with, or as if with, a siren.
Adjective[edit]
siren
- Relating to or like a siren.
Synonyms[edit]
References[edit]
- Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield, Massachusetts, G.&C. Merriam Co., 1967
Anagrams[edit]
Categories:
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle French
- English terms derived from Late Latin
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms derived from Ancient Greek
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English 2-syllable words
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with audio links
- en:Greek mythology
- en:Biology
- en:Music
- English verbs
- English adjectives
- en:Dugongs and manatees
- en:Mythological creatures
- en:Salamanders
