lorelei

What it means

1. A siren; a temptress.

   We grew silly, tongue-tied, said foolish things we did not mean to say, shoved one another about in the boat, and finally overturned it. The loreleis laughed musical little laughs.

   1965, William Henry Davenport, Ben Siegel, Biography past and present: selections and critical essays

   1 more example

   She was like a mermaid, an isolated creature that lives in fulfillment of its own senses; she lured me on, she was the lorelei of the gleaming river of traffic with its million, brilliant eyes that intermittently flowed between us.

   1977, Angela Carter, The Passion of New Eve

In a sentence

We grew silly, tongue-tied, said foolish things we did not mean to say, shoved one another about in the boat, and finally overturned it. The loreleis laughed musical little laughs.

1965, William Henry Davenport, Ben Siegel, Biography past and present: selections and critical essays

Where it comes from

From the Lorelei rock on the Rhine, which was haunted by one of these creatures according to German legend.