siren suit
Preserved but no longer current.
A one-piece garment, on the lines of a boiler suit, sometimes worn in London during the bombing raids of World War II. It is so named from its being slipped on over the night clothes at the first moan of the siren.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “siren suit” mean?
A one-piece garment, on the lines of a boiler suit, sometimes worn in London during the bombing raids of World War II. It is so named from its being slipped on over the night clothes at the first moan of the siren.
Is “siren suit” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.