klaxon

plural klaxons · alternative claxon

1. A loud electric alarm or horn, especially as used in automobiles in the early 20th century.First known use 1908

   Irenka was up front using the lavatory when the lights in the cabin went red and the klaxon sounded over the speakers.

   2010 November, Brad R. Torgersen, “Outbound”, in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, volume CXXX, number 11, Norwalk, Conn.: Dell Magazines, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 84; reprinted as “Outbound”, in Stanley Schmidt, editor, Into the New Millennium: Trailblazing Tales from Analog Science Fiction and Fact, 2000–2010, Norwalk, Conn.: Penny Publications, 2011, →ISBN, column 1

   4 more examples

   And she went so swiftly that he could only follow her to the door. The large shape of the car swallowed her up; and the car twisted softly around the little drive and away to the London road. Minutes later he heard its Klaxon, just one sharp keen, like the harsh cry of a sea-bird. …

   1922 October, Michael Arlen, “Book the Third: The Antagonists. Chapter V.”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days, London; Glasgow: W[illiam] Collins Sons & Co., […], published August 1924, →OCLC, section 1, page 188

   There was a motor car behind them now and it blasted into the truck noise and the dust with its klaxon again and again; then flashed on lights that showed the dust like a solid yellow cloud and surged past them in a whining rise of gears and a demanding, threatening, bludgeoning of klaxoning.

   1940 October 21, Ernest Hemingway, chapter 42, in For Whom the Bell Tolls, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner's Sons, →OCLC; republished London: Jonathan Cape, Thirty Bedford Square, 1949 (13th printing), →OCLC, page 386

   They could hear a lot more than they could see. But what they heard told them exactly nothing. There were the klaxons, which kept up their long, monotonous, insane growling protest all through the raid.

   1962 September, James Jones, chapter 2, in The Thin Red Line, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner's Sons, →OCLC, page 73

   When the claxon sounded they immediately stopped what they were doing and uncovered the Oerlikon. Paddy, who was ammunition feeder, stood by while Jock trained the 20mm gun around.

   2007, Thomas E. Lightburn, chapter 11, in The Shield and the Shark, Cambridge: Vanguard Press, →ISBN, page 173

present singular third person klaxons · participle present klaxoning · participle past klaxoned · past klaxoned

1. intransitiveTo produce a loud, siren-like wail.

   He headed down the Embankment. It was noon precisely. Big Ben klaxoned the hour with blasts of servo whistle.

   1980, John Domatilla [pseudonym; Ian Kennedy Martin], The Last Crime, London: Heinemann, →ISBN; republished [Morrisville, N.C.?]: Lulu Press, 2012, →ISBN, page 50

   2 more examples

   Suffering. It was like a great discordant symphony ringing out from the world; like a klaxoning of a million million cracked bells.

   2005 January, John Shirley, chapter 16, in Constantine: A Novelization [...] Based on Characters from the DC Comics/Vertigo Hellblazer Graphic Novels, Pocket Books paperback edition, New York, N.Y.: Pocket Star Books, Pocket Books, →ISBN, page 252

   Century stops before an eel-ship, coiled in jewel-skinned splendor. Its great eye-ports are open, and Century signals with a hand; the eel extends a proboscis lined with diamond mesh and graphene plates like a ramp. Century leads Mere into the eel's body. Alarms klaxon in Mere's head—its escape is known.

   2015 December, A. Merc Rustad, “Tomorrow When We See the Sun”, in John Joseph Adams, editor, Lightspeed, number 67, archived from the original on 15 Aug 2017, section II; reprinted in John Joseph Adams, editor, Cosmic Powers: The Saga Anthology of Far-away Galaxies, New York, N.Y.: Saga Press, Simon & Schuster, 2017, →ISBN, pages 187–188