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Vampire

 - 4 dictionary results
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vam⋅pire

  [vam-pahyuhr]
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–noun
1. a preternatural being, commonly believed to be a reanimated corpse, that is said to suck the blood of sleeping persons at night.
2. (in Eastern European folklore) a corpse, animated by an undeparted soul or demon, that periodically leaves the grave and disturbs the living, until it is exhumed and impaled or burned.
3. a person who preys ruthlessly upon others; extortionist.
4. a woman who unscrupulously exploits, ruins, or degrades the men she seduces.
5. an actress noted for her roles as an unscrupulous seductress: the vampires of the silent movies.
Origin:
1725–35; (< F) < G Vampir < Serbo-Croatian vàmpīr, alter. of earlier upir (by confusion with doublets such as vȁzdūh, ȕzdūh air (< Slavic vŭ-), and with intrusive nasal, as in dùbrava, dumbrȁva grove); akin to Czech upír, Pol upiór, ORuss upyrĭ, upirĭ, (Russ upýrʾ) < Slavic *u-pirĭ or *ǫ-pirĭ, prob. a deverbal compound with *per- fly, rush (literal meaning variously interpreted)

Related forms:
vam⋅pir⋅ic  [vam-pir-ik] , vam⋅pir⋅ish  [vam-pahyuhr-ish] , adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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vam·pire   (vām'pīr')   
n.  

  1. A reanimated corpse that is believed to rise from the grave at night to suck the blood of sleeping people.

  2. A person, such as an extortionist, who preys upon others.

  3. A vampire bat.


[French, from German Vampir, of Slavic origin.]
vam·pir'ic (vām-pĭr'ĭk), vam·pir'i·cal (-ĭ-kəl), vam'pir'ish (-ĭsh) adj.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

vampire 
1734, from Fr. vampire or Ger. Vampir (1732, in an account of Hungarian vampires), from Hung. vampir, from O.C.S. opiri (cf. Serb. vampir, Bulg. vapir, Ukrainian uper), said by Slavic linguist Franc Miklošič to be ult. from Kazan Tatar ubyr "witch." An Eastern European creature popularized in Eng. by late 19c. gothic novels, however there are scattered Eng. accounts of night-walking, blood-gorged, plague-spreading undead corpses from as far back as 1196. Applied 1774 by Fr. biologist Buffon to a species of South American blood-sucking bat.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Medical Dictionary

Main Entry: vam·pire
Pronunciation: 'vam-"pI(&)r
Function: noun
: VAMPIREBAT
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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