Refine this word faster
Siren
Definitions
- 1 Relating to or like a siren.
- 1 A village, the county seat of Burnett County, Wisconsin, United States.
- 2 A town in Burnett County, Wisconsin, United States, surrounding the village of the same name.
- 1 One of a group of nymphs who lured mariners to their death on the rocks. Greek
"Now give ear to what I'm about to say to you , and a god himself will bring it before your mind . First , you will come to the Sirens . These beings enthrall all men who arrive before them . Whoever draws near without knowledge and ..."
- 2 eellike aquatic North American salamander with small forelimbs and no hind limbs; have permanent external gills wordnet
- 3 One who sings sweetly and charms.
- 4 an acoustic device producing a loud often wailing sound as a signal or warning wordnet
- 5 A dangerously seductive woman.
Show 10 more definitions
- 6 a warning signal that is a loud wailing sound wordnet
- 7 A member of Sirenia, an order of mammals.
- 8 a woman who is considered to be dangerously seductive wordnet
- 9 A member of a genus of aquatic salamanders of the family Sirenidae, commonly used for all species in the family Sirenidae.
- 10 a sea nymph (part woman and part bird) supposed to lure sailors to destruction on the rocks where the nymphs lived wordnet
- 11 Any of various nymphalid butterflies of the genus Hestina.
- 12 A device, either mechanical or electronic, that makes a piercingly loud sound as an alarm or signal, or the sound from such a device.
"My attention was diverted from this sight by a furious yelling, like that of the thing called a siren in our manufacturing towns."
- 13 A musical instrument, one of the few aerophones in the percussion section of the symphony orchestra (patented as Acme Siren in 1895).
- 14 An instrument for demonstrating the laws of beats and combination tones.
- 15 An astrophysical event that can be used for calculating cosmic distances.
- 1 To make a noise with, or as if with, a siren. intransitive
- 2 To drive with a siren on. intransitive
Etymology
From Middle English siren, from Old French sereine and Latin Sīrēn, Sīrēna, from Ancient Greek Σειρήν (Seirḗn). The mammalian sense was first attested in French in Dominique Bouhours, Les entretiens d'Ariste et d'Eugène, in 1671. The aquatic salamander sense was originally introduced by Linnaeus in 1766, for a genus of his reptiles.
From Middle English siren, from Old French sereine and Latin Sīrēn, Sīrēna, from Ancient Greek Σειρήν (Seirḗn). The mammalian sense was first attested in French in Dominique Bouhours, Les entretiens d'Ariste et d'Eugène, in 1671. The aquatic salamander sense was originally introduced by Linnaeus in 1766, for a genus of his reptiles.
From Middle English siren, from Old French sereine and Latin Sīrēn, Sīrēna, from Ancient Greek Σειρήν (Seirḗn). The mammalian sense was first attested in French in Dominique Bouhours, Les entretiens d'Ariste et d'Eugène, in 1671. The aquatic salamander sense was originally introduced by Linnaeus in 1766, for a genus of his reptiles.
The name was intended to be Syren, from Swedish syren (“lilac”), but this was "corrected" by the US Post Office to Siren, who thought the name applied for was a misspelling.
See also for "siren"
Next best steps
Mini challenge
Unscramble this word: siren