klaxon
Plural: klaxons
Noun
- A loud electric horn, used typically on vehicles or for alarms.
- a kind of loud horn formerly used on motor vehicles
- A loud electric alarm or horn, especially as used in automobiles in the early 20th century.
Verb
- To produce a loud, siren-like wail.
Examples
- Her opponent’s triple-word play sounded like a klaxon signaling impending defeat.
Origin / Etymology
From the trademark Klaxon, based on Ancient Greek κλάζω (klázō, “make a sharp sound; scream”) (from Proto-Indo-European *glag- (“to make a noise, clap, twitter”), from *gal- (“to roop, scream, shout”)). The word was coined by Franklyn Hallett Lovell Jr., the founder of the Lovell-McConnell Manufacturing Co. of Newark, New Jersey, USA, which in 1908 obtained a licence of the patent to the machine generating the sound from American inventor Miller Reese Hutchison (1876–1944).
Synonyms
Scrabble Score: 17
klaxon: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordklaxon: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
klaxon: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary
Words With Friends Score: 19
klaxon: valid Words With Friends Word