— sirenlike , adj.
/suy"reuhn/ , 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.
6. of or like a siren.
7. seductive or tempting, esp. dangerously or harmfully: the siren call of adventure.
v.i.
8. to go with the siren sounding, as a fire engine.
v.t.
9. to allure in the manner of a siren.
[ 1300-50; ME sereyn sereine Sirena, L Siren Seirén ]
Syn. 2. seductress, temptress, vamp.