vampire

Meanings

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 3
   noun

   A person who drains one's time, energy, money, etc.

   Emotional vampire.

4. 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.

Common collocations

• vampire bat Noun + noun

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.

Topics

External links

• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary
• Google Images