Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Greek Mythology A monster represented as a serpent with the head and breasts of a woman that ate children and sucked the blood from men.
- n. A female vampire.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In fir. and Roman mythology, an enticing witch, who charmed children and youths for the purpose of feeding on their blood and flesh, like the later vampire; a female demon; hence, in general, a destroying witch or hag.
- n. In zoology:
- n. A Fabrician (1775) genus of longicorn beetles, now the type of the family Lamiidæ. L. ædilis is a species the male of which has antenæ) four times as long as the body.
- n. A genus of sharks: same as Lamna.
Wiktionary
- n. A monster with the head and breasts of a woman and the lower half of a serpent, which ate children and sucked the blood from men.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A monster capable of assuming a woman's form, who was said to devour human beings or suck their blood; a vampire; a sorceress; a witch.
WordNet 3.0
- n. (folklore) a corpse that rises at night to drink the blood of the living
Etymologies
- Middle English, from Latin, from Greek.
Examples
“And "lamia" represents the original Lilith, a spirit of the night who in Hebrew legend is the demon wife of Adam.”
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 4: Clandestinity-Diocesan Chancery
“Points for Sansi the lamia, though - she was badass!”
“I like the lamia-crazy stuff in there better. garfunkleandoates someone should release the whole movie without the cgi. abayarts you think it would of been easy to do this with the cartoon version instead. it was okay, webcomic is still better. greggorybasore”
VOTD: The Twist Ending That Should’ve Happened - Garfield Never Existed | /Film
“John Justin Mallory has fun and games with the last lamia egg.”
“There are varied stories about the origins of Lilith and the lamia, but she or something like her appears in Jewish, Greek, and Sumerian lore, just to name a few.”
“Some accounts say she was the first wife of Adam who refused to lie beneath him and flew out of the Garden of Eden to cavort with demons, giving birth to hundred of the lamia each night.”
“Also unlike Mom, he thought it was a good idea to find out what we could about the lamia.”
“I was just talking about the babies and how we should try to help before the lamia get any more of them.”
“The lamia are clawing their way out of a four-foot wide, fire-licked fissure that bisects the hollow.”
“I shudder and can hear the awful voices in my head as if the lamia were in the room with us.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘lamia’.
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Gene Wolfe
Please contribute your favorite words from any of Gene Wolfe’s books to this prize-winning list.
In case you come across words in this list which are too commonplace to fit in, please ...gallipot, roost, badelaire, oblesque, execration, dhole, amschaspand, arctother, chalcedony, penitence, asimi, autarch and 839 more...
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Mythical Beings
mermaid, manticore, fairy, brownie, dwarf, elf, leprechaun, selkie, gremlin, puck, pixie, genie and 97 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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Mythology
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Vampires
A list of famous characters, vampire lore, and anything else having to do with the genre.
Dracula, vampire, vampire bat, vampire pumpkins ..., Nosferatu, nosferatu, Angel, Spike, Bill Compton, Count Orlok, Vlad the Impaler, Count von Count and 33 more...
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Beginning with L
luteous, Lydian, lyterian, lutulent, labarum, language, listen, laurels, lithesome, labiomancy, labrose, laches and 27 more...
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Witchcraft, monsters, and the macabre
lamia, onomancy, divination, hagiolatry, jackalope, lycanthrope, thaumaturge, tzigane, chthonic, thaumaturgic, revenant, soucouyant and 4 more...
chained_bear "I could feel the faintly pebbled texture of the rash upon his skin, and the thought came unbidden of the lamia. A creature smooth and cool to the touch, a shape-shifter, passionately venomous, its nature infectious. A swift bite and the snake's poison spreading, slowing his heart, chilling his warm blood; I could imagine tiny scales rising under his skin in the dark."
—Diana Gabaldon, The Fiery Cross (NY: Bantam Dell, 2001), 1176–1177 Jan 29, 2010