siren
English
Alternative forms
- sirene (dated or archaic)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/The_Siren.jpg/240px-The_Siren.jpg)
Etymology
From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle English, itself from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle French sereine (itself from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Late Latin sirena), and from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin Sīrēn, ultimately from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Ancient Greek Σειρήν (Seirḗn).
Pronunciation
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "RP" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /ˈsaɪəɹən/
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "US" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /ˈsaɪɹən/
- Rhymes: -aɪərən, -aɪrən
Noun
siren (plural sirens or sirenes) Template:examples-right
- (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 Lua error in Module:taxlink at line 68: Parameter "ver" is not used by this template..
- 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.
- 1984, Steve Harris, "Aces High", Iron Maiden, Powerslave.
- (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.
Synonyms
- (one who sings sweetly and charms): crooner
- (dangerously seductive woman): See Thesaurus:vamp
- (device for making a sound alarm): klaxon
Derived terms
Translations
nymph of Greek mythology
|
device for making a sound alarm
|
musical instrument
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dangerously seductive woman
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salamander
mammal
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Verb
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
siren
- 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
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
- Rhymes:English/aɪərən
- Rhymes:English/aɪrən
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:Greek mythology
- en:Biology
- en:Entomology
- English terms with quotations
- en:Music
- English verbs
- English adjectives
- en:Dugongs and manatees
- en:Mythological creatures
- en:Salamanders