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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. A reanimated corpse that is believed to rise from the grave at night to suck the blood of sleeping people.
  2. n. A person, such as an extortionist, who preys upon others.
  3. n. A vampire bat.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. A kind of spectral being or ghost still possessing a human body, which, according to a superstition existing among the Slavic and other races on the lower Danube, leaves the grave during the night, and maintains a semblance of life by sucking the warm blood of living men and women while they are asleep. Dead wizards, werwolves, heretics, and other outcasts become vampires, as do also the illegitimate offspring of parents themselves illegitimate, and any one killed by a vampire. On the discovery of a vampire's grave, the body, which, it is supposed, will be found all fresh and ruddy, must be disinterred, thrust through with a whitethorn stake, and burned in order to render it harmless.
  2. n. Hence, a person who preys on others; an extortioner or blood-sucker.
  3. n. Same as vampire-bat.
  4. n. Theat., a small trap made of two flaps held together by a spring, used for sudden appearances and disappearances of one person.
  5. Of or pertaining to a vampire; resembling a vampire in character; blood-sucking; extortionate; vampiric.

Wiktionary

  1. n. colloquial A person with the medical condition Systemic lupus erythematosus, colloquially known as vampirism, with effects such as photosensitivity, brownish-red stained teeth, and increased night vision.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. A blood-sucking ghost; a soul of a dead person superstitiously believed to come from the grave and wander about by night sucking the blood of persons asleep, thus causing their death. This superstition was once prevalent in parts of Eastern Europe, and was especially current in Hungary about the year 1730. The vampire was often said to have the ability to transform itself into the form of bat, as presented in the novel depicting the legend of Dracula published by Bram Stoker in 1897, which has inspired several movies.
  2. n. Fig.: One who lives by preying on others; an extortioner; a bloodsucker.
  3. n. (Zoöl.) Either one of two or more species of South American blood-sucking bats belonging to the genera Desmodus and Diphylla; also called vampire bat. These bats are destitute of molar teeth, but have strong, sharp cutting incisors with which they make punctured wounds from which they suck the blood of horses, cattle, and other animals, as well as man, chiefly during sleep. They have a cæcal appendage to the stomach, in which the blood with which they gorge themselves is stored.
  4. n. (Zoöl.) Any one of several species of harmless tropical American bats of the genus Vampyrus, especially Vampyrus spectrum. These bats feed upon insects and fruit, but were formerly erroneously supposed to suck the blood of man and animals. Called also false vampire.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. (folklore) a corpse that rises at night to drink the blood of the living

Etymologies

  1. From French vampire or German Vampir, from Hungarian vámpír, from Serbo-Croatian vàmpīr, from Macedonian. Cf. Russian упырь (upýr’), Polish upiór, etc. The word "vampire" has its roots in the Mediterranean languages. The earliest reference to the word arises in the Slavonic Magyar; from "vam", meaning "blood", and "pir", meaning "monster". (Wiktionary)
  2. French, from German Vampir, of Slavic origin. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

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Lists

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Comments

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  • blafferty At least only one of the visuals is of Edward. Whew. But where is The Count? Nov 2, 2011

  • bilby They don't?
    *removes sunglasses*
    I felt stupid wearing these at night anyway. As if walking around the graveyard dressed in garlic wasn't bad enough. Nov 1, 2011

  • BritSwag A vampire is not a GHOST! And also, vampires don't really sparkle. I should know because I met one once named Franklin and though I haven't seen him for many years he has promised to return soon. Also Vampire Diaries rocks. And Twilight is for chummies. :P Nov 1, 2011

  • PossibleUnderscore I would love to see what would happen if you put Edward and Dracula in the same room, preferably with a juicy Bella in the middle. Jul 26, 2009

  • bilby From the bottom of the article:
    "Many people in the north of the country come from nomadic backgrounds, where drinking an animal's blood without actually killing the beast is a survival technique in lean times." Jun 2, 2009

  • skipvia *is surprised you can fry blood*
    *is even more surprised that you could sell it* Jun 2, 2009

  • bilby "Ms Danbe is one of many women in the city's Walia neighbourhood, close to the Cameroonian border, who has taken to frying up huge vats of blood and selling it to her neighbours on the streets. She buys buckets of fresh blood from the abattoir near her home for about $1 (£0.61), which makes about 40 plates of vampire."
    - Celeste Hicks, Chadians get fangs into 'vampire', BBC website, 1 June 2009. Jun 2, 2009

  • frindley See transitive vampire.
    May 9, 2008

  • rolig 1734, from Fr. vampire or Ger. Vampir (1732, in an account of Hungarian vampires), from Hung. vampir, from Old Church Slavonic opiri (cf. Serb. vampir, Bulg. vapir, Ukrainian uper), said by Slavic linguist Franc Mikloši�? to be ult. from Kazan Tatar ubyr "witch." – Online Etymology Dictionary Jan 3, 2008

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‘vampire’ has been looked up 3215 times, loved by 2 people, added to 50 lists, commented on 10 times, and has a Scrabble score of 14.