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Dracula

[ drak-yuh-luh ]

noun

  1. (italics) a novel (1897) by Bram Stoker.
  2. Count, the central character in this novel: the archetype of a vampire.


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Word History and Origins

Origin of Dracula1

Origin uncertain; perhaps from Romanian Drăculea, a diminutive or patronymic of drăcul “the dragon,” and derived from a knightly order called the “Order of the Dragon” ( Ordo Draconum ), founded in 1408 by the Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund ( 1368–1437 ), then king of Hungary, to defend Christianity and the Empire against the Ottoman Turks. After Vlad II Dracul (c. 1395–1447 ) was admitted to the order around 1431, he wore the dragon emblem of the order. Later, when Vlad II was prince of Wallachia (now part of Romania), his coinage bore the image of the dragon, from which the name Dracula is derived. Vlad II’s son, Vlad III (Vlad Ţepeş “Vlad the Impaler,” c.1431–c.1476 ) is most likely the model for the Bram Stoker character. dragon

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Example Sentences

That was what I liked: the idea that they find that ship, and like in Dracula there is a coffin on board, in the cargo.

The first on-set memory she is certain of came two years later in Dracula.

Just like Dracula, Bill Compton, and Edward Cullen, adult ticks live vampirically on mammalian blood.

Dracula was a great moment for Keanu, in my view, and I will take no prisoners on that.

When Dracula feeds on a human, the blood sucking is more graphic than on True Blood, even.

Of course, all vampires live to a strange lease on life, but most of them are spirits rather than human beings as was Dracula.

The count, in Dracula, who has lived his vampire life for centuries, is said to be hale and fresh as if he were forty.

She had a dread feeling that Cecil might be able to crawl over the sheer face of a building, like "Dracula."

It is only a line dated from Castle Dracula, and says that he is just starting for home.

I am Dracula; and I bid you welcome, Mr. Harker, to my house.

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DraconidDracula, Count