vampire
Forms
- Plural
- vampires
- present (v1)
- vampire
- past (v2)
- vampired
- past participle (v3)
- vampired
- present participle
- vampiring
- 3rd person singular
- vampires
Definitions
1.A mythological creature (usually humanoid and undead) said to feed on the blood or life energy of the living.
- The universal belief is, that a person sucked by a vampyre becomes a vampyre himself, and sucks in his turn.
- Bram Stoker's novel Dracula built on centuries-old stories of vampires and also encouraged new growth of the mythology.
2.A person with the medical condition porphyria cutanea tarda, colloquially known as vampirism, with effects such as photosensitivity and brownish-red stained teeth.(colloquial)
3.A person with habits traditionally ascribed to (literal) vampires, such as heliophobia, being a night owl, having pale skin, and so on.(colloquial)
- Somehow I doubt that Kelly will want to go surfing with us, she's such a vampire that she might recoil from the sun, lol!
4.A blood-sucking bat; vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus)
1.To drain of energy or resources.
Frequency
Overall
Rare· #4756
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Rare
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Rare
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”), or from native construction.
Doublet of dhampir and oupire.