Dictionary
si•ren
Pronunciation: (sī'run), [key]—
n.
1. Class. Myth.one of several sea nymphs, part woman and part bird, who lure mariners to destruction by their seductive singing.
2. a seductively beautiful or charming woman, esp. one who beguiles men:
a siren of the silver screen.
3. an acoustical instrument for producing musical tones, consisting essentially of a disk pierced with holes arranged equidistantly in a circle, rotated over a jet or stream of compressed air, steam, or the like, so that the stream is alternately interrupted and allowed to pass.
4. an implement of this kind used as a whistle, fog signal, or warning device.
5. any of several aquatic, eellike salamanders of the family Sirenidae, having permanent external gills, small forelimbs, and no posterior limbs.
—
adj.
1. of or like a siren.
2. seductive or tempting, esp. dangerously or harmfully:
the siren call of adventure.
—
v.i.
to go with the siren sounding, as a fire engine.
—
v.t.
to allure in the manner of a siren.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
