siren
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English[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
- sirene (dated or archaic)
Etymology[edit]
From Middle English siren, 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.
- A dangerously seductive woman.
- (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).
- (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.
- (entomology) Any of various nymphalid butterflies of the genus Hestina.
- 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).
- 1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, page 103:
- My attention was diverted from this sight by a furious yelling, like that of the thing called a siren in our manufacturing towns.
- 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.
- (music) A musical instrument, one of the few aerophones in the percussion section of the symphony orchestra (patented as Acme Siren in 1895).
- An instrument for demonstrating the laws of beats and combination tones.
- (astronomy, astrophysics) An astrophysical event that can be used for calculating cosmic distances.
Synonyms[edit]
- (one who sings sweetly and charms): crooner
- (dangerously seductive woman): See Thesaurus:vamp
- (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: bewitching, enchanting, enticing, sirenic
References[edit]
- Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield, Massachusetts, G.&C. Merriam Co., 1967
Anagrams[edit]
Serbo-Croatian[edit]
Participle[edit]
siren (Cyrillic spelling сирен)
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- 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
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- English verbs
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- en:Stock characters
- en:Dugongs and manatees
- en:Mythological creatures
- en:Salamanders
- Serbo-Croatian non-lemma forms
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