vampire
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈvæm.paɪ.ə(ɹ)/
rhymes: -aɪə(ɹ)
Forms: form: vampires
form: vampyre
form: wampyr
Etymology: From French vampire, from German Vampir, via Hungarian from a Slavic word, probably Serbo-Croatian vàmpīr /ва̀мпӣр, from Proto-Slavic *ǫpyrь. Doublet of oupire.
Senses: examples: text: Bram Stoker's novel Dracula built on centuries-old stories of vampires and also encouraged new growth of the mythology.
text: [I]n the Village of Medreyga in Hungary, certain dead Bodies (call'd there Vampyres) had kill'd several Persons by sucking out all their Blood: That Arnold Paul, an Heyduke, having kill'd four Persons after he was dead, his Body was taken up 40 Days after, which bled at the Nose, Mouth and Ears: That, according to Custom, they drove a Stake thro' his Heart, at which he gave horrid Groan, and lost a great deal of Blood. And that all such as have been tormented or kill'd by Vampyres, become Vampyres when they are dead.
ref: 1732 May 20, The London Journal, page 76, column 1:
text: The universal belief is, that a person sucked by a vampyre becomes a vampyre himself, and sucks in his turn.
ref: 1819, John William Polidori, The Vampyre, London: Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, page xxi:
text: From my laboratory in the Castle east
To the master bedroom, where the vampires feast
The ghouls all came from their humble abodes
To get a jolt from my electrodes
They did the Mash
They did the Monster Mash.
ref: 1962, “Monster Mash”, Bobby "Boris" Pickett and Lenny Capizzi (lyrics), performed by Bobby (Boris) Pickett and The Crypt-Kickers:
text: I'm a vampire, baby, sucking blood from the earth / Well, I'm a vampire, baby, sell you twenty barrels worth
ref: 1974, Neil Young, “Vampire Blues”, in On the Beach:
synonyms: nosferatu
lamia
glosses: A mythological creature (usually humanoid and undead) said to feed on the blood or life energy of the living.
examples: text: Near-synonyms: heliophobe, goth
text: 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!
glosses: A person with habits traditionally ascribed to (literal) vampires, such as heliophobia, being a night owl, having pale skin, and so on.
qualifier: disrespectful
glosses: A person with the medical condition porphyria cutanea tarda, colloquially known as vampirism, with effects such as photosensitivity and brownish-red stained teeth.
synonyms: vampire bat
glosses: A blood-sucking bat; vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus)
examples: text: emotional vampire
text: You have to be careful what you tell her, because she's such a vampire for drama.
glosses: A person who drains one's time, energy, money, etc.
examples: text: "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.
ref: 2004, David W. Menefee, The First Female Stars: Women of the Silent Era, page 4:
glosses: A vamp: a seductive woman who exploits men.
examples: text: Only one technician in the hospital lab, in all we have encountered, uses it. […] Eric makes no complaints other than those directed at the vampires. Brenda and I do.
ref: 1992, Terry Pringle, This is the Child:
text: "I draw blood from patients, and then I take it back to the lab and analyze it. Sometimes, the vampires do all the sticks, that is to say the lab assistants do all the blood collections." He grinned. "We have our own language at the lab."
ref: 2000, Tracie Peterson, Colorado Wings, page 373:
glosses: A medical technician who works with patients' blood; especially, a phlebotomist.
examples: text: Vampire. Vampire. Vampire. Battle stations.
topics: government
military
naval
navy
politics
war
glosses: Synonym of anti-ship missile (ASM), particularly an incoming hostile one.
synonyms: word: anti-ship missile
extra: (ASM), particularly an incoming hostile one
Synonyms: sense: blood drinker
word: hemovore
sense: blood drinker
word: hematophagous
Derived terms: energy vampire
help vampire
hopping vampire
psychic vampire
sea vampire
time vampire
vampicide
vampire bat
vampire bug
vampire cough
vampire crab
vampire deer
vampiredom
vampire draw
vampire facial
vampire glove
vampire ground finch
vampirehood
vampirekind
vampireless
vampirelike
vampire moth
vampire number
vampiresque
vampire squid
vampiress
vampire's teabag
vampire syndrome
vampire taco
vampire time
vampirette
vampirey
vampireyness
vampiric
vampirical
vampirically
vampirina
vampirish
vampirism
vampiroid
vampirologist
vampirology
Related terms: vamp