siren

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A device in which compressed air or steam is driven against a rotating perforated disk to create a loud, often wailing sound as a signal or warning.
2. n. An electronic device producing a similar sound as a signal or warning: a police car siren.
3. n. Any of several salamanders of the family Sirenidae, such as the mud eel, having an eellike body, permanent external gills, small forelegs, and no hind limbs.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. In Greek myth, one of two, three, or an indeterminate number of seanymphs who by their singing fascinated those who sailed by their island, and then destroyed them. In works of art they are represented as having the head, arms, and generally the bust of a young woman, the wings and lower part of the body, or sometimes only the feet, of a bird. In Attic usage they are familiar as goddesses of the grave, personifying the expression of regret and lamentation for the dead. See Harpy monument (under harpy), and compare cut under embolon.
2. n. A mermaid.
3. n. A charming, alluring, or enticing woman; a woman dangerous from her arts of fascination.
4. n. One who sings sweetly.
5. n. A fabulous creature having the form of winged serpent.
6. n. In herpetology: Any member of the Sirenidæ.
7. n. A Linnean genus of amphibians, now restricted as the type of family Sirenidæ. Also Sirene.
8. n. One of the Sirenia, as the manatee, dugong, halicore, or sea-cow; any sirenian.
9. n. An acoustical instrument consisting essentially of a wooden or metallic disk, pierced with holes equidistantly arranged in a circle, which can be revolved over a jet of compressed air or steam so as to produce periodic puffs. When the revolutions are rapid enough, the puffs coalesce into a musical tone. The revolution of the disk is effected either by a motor of some kind, or by setting the holes at an oblique angle so that the impact of the jet shall do the work. In the more complicated forms of the instrument two or more tones can be produced at once, either by having two or more concentric circles of holes in the same disk, or by two separate disks: the latter form is called a double siren. The number of revolutions required to produce a given tone can be counted and exhibited in various ways; and the application of the instrument in acoustical experiments and demonstrations is wide. In the cut a is a perforated disk made to revolve by the pressure of the air forced from the bellows beneath through d; b, vertical shaft revolving with the disk, and, by means of a pair of cog-wheels in the box c, turning the two index-hands on their respective dial-plates, and thus registering the number of revolutions made during the time of observation. Very large sirens are sometimes made for use as fog-signals, the sound being conveyed seaward in a large trumpet-shaped tube called a fog-horn, a name also given to the whole arrangement. See fog-horn. Also sirene.
10. n. An apparatus for testing woods and metals to ascertain their sonorous qualities.
11. n. In heraldry, the representation of a mermaid, used as a bearing.
12. Pertaining to or characteristic of a siren; dangerously alluring; fascinating; bewitching.
13. n. A monster without lower extremities.
14. n. Same as sympus.

Wiktionary

1. n. original sense (Greek mythology) One of a group of nymphs who lured mariners to their death on the rocks.
2. n. A device, either mechanical or electronic, that makes a piercingly loud sound as an alarm or signal, or the sound from such a device.
3. n. A dangerously seductive woman.
4. n. A common name for salamanders of Siren and Sirenidae.
5. n. A common name for mammals of Sirenia.
6. adj. Relating to or like a siren.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Class. Myth.) One of three sea nymphs, -- or, according to some writers, of two, -- said to frequent an island near the coast of Italy, and to sing with such sweetness that they lured mariners to destruction.
2. n. An enticing, dangerous woman.
3. n. Something which is insidious or deceptive.
4. n. obsolete A mermaid.
5. n. (Zoöl.) Any long, slender amphibian of the genus Siren or family Sirenidæ, destitute of hind legs and pelvis, and having permanent external gills as well as lungs. They inhabit the swamps, lagoons, and ditches of the Southern United States. The more common species (Siren lacertina) is dull lead-gray in color, and becames two feet long.
6. n. (Acoustics) An instrument for producing musical tones and for ascertaining the number of sound waves or vibrations per second which produce a note of a given pitch. The sounds are produced by a perforated rotating disk or disks. A form with two disks operated by steam or highly compressed air is used sounding an alarm to vessels in fog.
7. adj. Of or pertaining to a siren; bewitching, like a siren; fascinating; alluring.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. eellike aquatic North American salamander with small forelimbs and no hind limbs; have permanent external gills
2. n. a sea nymph (part woman and part bird) supposed to lure sailors to destruction on the rocks where the nymphs lived
3. n. an acoustic device producing a loud often wailing sound as a signal or warning
4. n. a woman who is considered to be dangerously seductive
5. n. a warning signal that is a loud wailing sound