Also spelled wampyr
Meanings
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1
noun
A mythological creature (usually humanoid and undead) said to feed on the blood or life energy of the living.
Bram Stoker's novel Dracula built on centuries-old stories of vampires and also encouraged new growth of the mythology.
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2
noun
A person with habits traditionally ascribed to (literal) vampires, such as heliophobia, being a night owl, having pale skin, and so on.
Near-synonyms: heliophobe, goth.
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3
noun
A person who drains one's time, energy, money, etc.
Emotional vampire.
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4
noun
A vamp: a seductive woman who exploits men.
"What followed this decision was exactly what we had expected: Mr. Fox, realizing that the public was tiring of Theda Bara in vampire roles, announced that he would star her in a production of Romeo and Juliet," she illustrated.
Thesaurus
Etymology
From French vampire, from German Vampir, via Hungarian from a Slavic word, probably Serbo-Croatian vàmpīr /ва̀мпӣр, from Proto-Slavic *ǫpyrь, further possibly from Proto-Turkic *ōpur (“glutton, witch, evil spirit”). Doublet of oupire.