siren: [14] The Seirēnes were sea nymphs who, according to Greek mythology, sat on rocks luring impressionable sailors to their doom with the sweetness of their singing. Latin took the word over as sīrēna, and it passed into English via Old French sereine. The term was applied to an acoustical instrument invented in 1819 by Cagniard de la Tour, that produced musical sounds and was used for measuring the frequency of sound waves, and it was this that formed the basis of its later use (in the 1870s) for a device for giving loud warning signals.
siren (n.)
mid-14c., "sea nymph who by her singing lures sailors to their destruction," from Old French sereine (12c., Modern French sirène) and directly from Latin Siren (Late Latin Sirena), from Greek Seiren ["Odyssey," xii.39 ff.], one of the Seirenes, mythical sisters who enticed sailors to their deaths with their songs, also in Greek "a deceitful woman," perhaps literally "binder, entangler," from seira "cord, rope."
Meaning "device that makes a warning sound" (on an ambulance, etc.) first recorded 1879, in reference to steamboats, perhaps from similar use of the French word. Figurative sense of "one who sings sweetly and charms" is recorded from 1580s. The classical descriptions of them were mangled in medieval translations and glosses, resulting in odd notions of what they looked like.
双语例句
1. People were awakened rudely by a siren just outside their window.
人们被窗外传来的汽笛声猛然惊醒了。
来自柯林斯例句
2. It sounds like an air raid siren.
那听起来像是空袭警报。
来自柯林斯例句
3. Somewhere in the distance a siren hooted.
远处某个地方响起了警报声。
来自柯林斯例句
4. The noise of the siren was deafening her.
汽笛声震得她耳朵都快聋了。
来自《权威词典》
5. A police car raced past with its siren wailing.