Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A goblin or specter.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun obsolete A phantom or specter.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun obsolete A
phantom orspectre .
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Latin empusa, from Ancient Greek.
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Examples
-
She at length owned that she was an empuse (a sort of vampire), and that she had determined to cherish and pamper Menippus, that she might in the conclusion eat his flesh, and lap up his blood.
Lives of the Necromancers William Godwin 1796
qms commented on the word empuse
Her enemies cruelly abuse her
And call her a heartless Medusa.
Such charges are wild;
She’s really quite mild,
No more than a creepy empuse.
September 15, 2018