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Vampire - 5 dictionary results
vam⋅pire
[vam-pahyuh
r] 
–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)
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
[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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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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|
Link To Vampire
| vam·pire (vām'pīr') n.
[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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Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Vampire
Vam"pire\, n. [F. vampire (cf. It. vampiro, G. & D. vampir), fr. Servian vampir.] [Written also vampyre.]1. 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 is now prevalent in parts of Eastern Europe, and was especially current in Hungary about the year 1730. The persons who turn vampires are generally wizards, witches, suicides, and persons who have come to a violent end, or have been cursed by their parents or by the church, --Encyc. Brit. 2. Fig.: One who lives by preying on others; an extortioner; a bloodsucker. 3. (Zo["o]l.) Either one of two or more species of South American blood-sucking bats belonging to the genera Desmodus and Diphylla. 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 c[ae]cal appendage to the stomach, in which the blood with which they gorge themselves is stored. 4. (Zo["o]l.) Any one of several species of harmless tropical American bats of the genus Vampyrus, especially V. 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. Vampire bat (Zo["o]l.), a vampire, 3.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : Vampire
Spanish:
vampiro,
German:
der Vampir,
Japanese:
吸血鬼
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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Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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