Lorelei

Lo·re·lei

L0252300 (lôr′ə-lī′)n. A siren of Germanic legend whose singing lures sailors to shipwreck.

Lorelei

(ˈlɒrəˌlaɪ) n (European Myth & Legend) (in German legend) a siren, said to dwell on a rock at the edge of the Rhine south of Koblenz, who lures boatmen to destruction[C19: from German Lurlei name of the rock; from a poem by Clemens Brentano (1778–1842)]

Lor•e•lei

(ˈlɔr əˌlaɪ)

n. a nymph of the Rhine whose singing lured sailors to shipwreck on a rock. [< German]

Thesaurus

Noun

Lorelei - a Siren of German legend who lured boatmen in the Rhine to destruction

Lorelei

enUK

Lorelei

(lôr`əlī, Ger. lō`rəlī), cliff, 433 ft (132 m) high, on the right bank of the Rhine River, near St. Goarshausen, W Germany, about midway between Koblenz and Bingen. There the Rhine forms a dangerous narrows, and in German legend a fairy similar to the Greek Sirens lived on the rock and by her singing lured the sailors to their death. Heinrich Heine's poem, Die Lorelei, is world famous. The rock has sometimes been identified as the place where the hoard of the Nibelungs is hidden under the Rhine.

Lorelei

water nymph of the Rhine; lured sailors to their doom with her singing. [Ger. Folklore: Leach, 645]See: Enchantment

Lorelei

siren; lured ships to destruction with singing. [Ger. Folklore: Benét, 599]See: Seduction

Lorelei

siren whose singing lured ships to their destruction. [Ger. Lit.: Benét, 599]See: Singer