vampire

vampire

See also: Vampire

English

Engraving of a vampire.

Alternative forms

• vampyre (archaic), wampyr

Etymology

From French vampire, from German Vampir, via Hungarian from a Slavic word, probably Serbo-Croatian вампир (vàmpīr), proposed to be a variant of unattested *upir, from Proto-Slavic *ǫpyrь,[1][2] q.v. Compare Russian упы́рь (upýrʹ), Polish upiór, Polish wąpierz, etc. Doublet of oupire.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvæm.paɪ.ə(ɹ)/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Actor Béla Lugosi as Dracula,
the vampire-count.

Noun

vampire (plural vampires)

1. A mythological undead creature said to feed on the blood of the living. [from 1732]

   Synonyms: nosferatu, lamia, cadaver sanguine

   • 1732 May 20, The London Journal, page 76, column 1:

     [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.

   • 1819, John William Polidori, The Vampyre, London: Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, page xxi:

     The universal belief is, that a person sucked by a vampyre becomes a vampyre himself, and sucks in his turn.

   • 1974, Neil Young (lyrics and music), “Vampire Blues”, in On the Beach:

     I'm a vampire, baby, sucking blood from the earth / Well, I'm a vampire, baby, sell you twenty barrels worth

2. (colloquial) A person with the medical condition systemic lupus erythematosus, colloquially known as vampirism, with effects such as photosensitivity and brownish-red stained teeth.
3. A blood-sucking bat; vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus) [from later 18th c.]

   Synonym: vampire bat

4. (figurative, derogatory) A person who drains one's time, energy, money, etc.
5. (dated) A vamp: a seductive woman who exploits men.
   • 2004, David W. Menefee, The First Female Stars: Women of the Silent Era (page 4)

     "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.

6. (US, slang) A medical technician who works with patients' blood.
   • 1992, Terry Pringle, This is the Child:

     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.

   • 2000, Tracie Peterson, Colorado Wings (page 373)

     "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."

7. (US naval jargon) Synonym of anti-ship missile (ASM), particularly an incoming hostile one.

   Vampire. Vampire. Vampire. Battle stations.

Synonyms

• (blood drinker): hemovore, hematophagous

Derived terms

• energy vampire
• help vampire
• vampire bat
• vampire bug
• vampire cough
• vampire crab
• vampiredom
• vampire draw
• vampire facial
• vampire glove
• vampirehood
• vampirekind
• vampireless
• vampirelike
• vampiresque
• vampire squid
• vampiress
• vampire's teabag
• vampire syndrome
• vampire taco
• vampirette
• vampirey
• vampireyness
• vampiric
• vampirical
• vampirically
• vampirina
• vampirish
• vampirism
• vampiroid
• vampirologist
• vampirology

 

Related terms

• vamp

Descendants

• → Bengali: ভ্যাম্পায়ার (bhêmpayar)
• → Irish: vaimpír
• → Japanese: ヴァンパイア (vanpaia), バンパイア (banpaia)
• → Marathi: व्हॅम्पायर (vhĕmpāyar)
• → Thai: แวมไพร์ (wɛm-paai)
• → Scottish Gaelic: bhampair
• → Swahili: vampiri
• → Turkish: vampir
• → Welsh: fampir

Translations

mythological creature

Abkhaz: ахәарҭлаӷь (axʷartlağʲ), аҟәарҭлах (aqʷʼartlax) Afrikaans: vampier (af) Albanian: dhampir m Arabic: مَصَّاص دِمَاء‎ m (maṣṣāṣ dimāʔ), مَصَّاصَة دِمَاء‎ f (maṣṣāṣa(t) dimāʔ) Armenian: վամպիր (hy) (vampir) Asturian: vampiru m Azerbaijani: vampir (az) Basque: banpiro Belarusian: вампі́р m (vampír), ўпір m (ŭpir), упі́р m (upír), кажа́н m (kažán) Bengali: ভ্যাম্পায়ার (bhêmpayar) Bulgarian: вампи́р (bg) m (vampír) Burmese: သွေးစုပ်ဖုတ်ကောင် (swe:cuphputkaung), သွေးစုပ်လင်းဆွဲ (swe:cuplang:hcwai:) Catalan: vampir (ca) m Chechen: убар (ubar) Chinese: Mandarin: 吸血鬼 (zh) (xīxuěguǐ) Czech: upír (cs) m, vampýr (cs) m Danish: vampyr (da) c Dutch: vampier (nl) m Esperanto: vampiro (eo) Estonian: vampiir (et) Finnish: vampyyri (fi) French: vampire (fr) m Galician: vampiro (gl) m Georgian: ვამპირი (vamṗiri) German: Blutsauger (de) m, Vampir (de) m, Vampyr (de) m; (female) Vampirin (de) f Greek: βαμπίρ (el) n (vampír), βρικόλακας (el) m (vrikólakas), δράκουλας (el) m (drákoulas) Greenlandic: vampyri Hebrew: עַרְפָּד‎ (he) m (arpad) Hindi: पिशाच (hi) m (piśāc) Hungarian: vámpír (hu) Icelandic: vampíra f Ido: vampiro (io) Indonesian: vampir (id) Irish: vaimpír f, deamhan fola m, súmaire m, súmaire fola m Italian: vampiro (it) m Japanese: 吸血鬼 (ja) (きゅうけつき), ヴァンパイア, バンパイア Kazakh: қансімір (qansımır) Khmer: ខ្មោចអាប (kmaoc ’aap) Korean: 흡혈귀(吸血鬼) (ko) (heuphyeolgwi) Kyrgyz: вампир (ky) (vampir) Lao: ຜີດິບ (phī dip), ຜີປອບ (phī pǭp), ແວມໄພ (wǣm phai) Latin: sanguisūga m, vampyrus m, striga f Latvian: vampīrs m Lithuanian: vampyras m, vampyrė f Luxembourgish: Vampir m Macedonian: ва́мпир m (vámpir) Malagasy: vampira (mg) Marathi: व्हॅम्पायर ? (vhĕmpāyar) Mongolian: вампир (mn) (vampir), цус сорогч (cus sorogč) Navajo: hastiin tsʼíʼiitsoh Norwegian: vampyr m Persian: خون‌آشام‎ Polish: wampir (pl) m, upiór (pl) m, wampirzyca (pl) f, wąpierz m Portuguese: vampiro (pt) m Romanian: vampir (ro) m, vampiră f, strigoi (ro) m, vârcolac (ro) m, vampiri (ro) m pl, strigoaie (ro) f Russian: вампи́р (ru) m (vampír), вампи́рша (ru) f (vampírša), упы́рь (ru) m (upýrʹ), вурдала́к (ru) m (vurdalák) Scottish Gaelic: bhampair ? Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: вампир m, вампирка f, вампирица f Roman: vampir (sh) m, vampirka f, vampirica f Sinhalese: පිසාචයින් ? (pisācayin) Slovak: upír m, vampír m Slovene: vampír (sl) m Sorbian: Lower Sorbian: wampir m Spanish: vampiro (es) m Sumerian: 𒄴𒄩𒊒 (aḫḫaru) Swahili: mumiani class 9/10, vampiri ?, mnyonya-damu ? Swedish: vampyr (sv) c Tagalog: bampira Tatar: вампир (wampir), убыр (tt) (ubır) Telugu: రక్త పిశాచి (rakta piśāci) Thai: แวมไพร์ (th) (waem-pai), ผีดูดเลือด (pǐi-dùut-lʉ̂ʉat), ผีดิบ (th) (pǐi-dìp) Turkish: vampir (tr), vupkan, ubır (tr), obur (tr) Turkmen: wampir Ukrainian: упи́р m (upýr), вампі́р (uk) m (vampír) Urdu: پشاچ‎ m (piśāc) Uzbek: vampir (uz) Vietnamese: ma cà rồng (vi) Volapük: (♂♀) vampir, (♂) hivampir, (♀) jivampir Welsh: fampir (cy) m or f Yiddish: וואַמפּיר‎ m (vampir)

person suffering from vampirism

bat

Bulgarian: вампи́р (bg) m (vampír) Czech: vampýr (cs) ? Danish: vampyr (da) c Esperanto: vampirvesperto, desmodo Estonian: vereimeja Finnish: vampyyrilepakko, vampyyri (fi) French: chauve-souris vampire (fr) f German: Vampir (de) m, Vampirfledermaus m Greek: νυχτερίδα (el) f (nychterída), βαμπίρ (el) n (vampír) Hungarian: denevér (hu) Irish: vaimpír f Latvian: vampīrsikspārnis ? Portuguese: vampiro (pt) m, morcego-vampiro m Russian: вампи́р (ru) m (vampír) Spanish: vampiro (es) m Swedish: vampyr (sv) c Turkish: vampir yarasa Ukrainian: вампі́р (uk) m (vampír) Vietnamese: dơi hút máu Welsh: fampir (cy) m or f

Verb

vampire (third-person singular simple present vampires, present participle vampiring, simple past and past participle vampired)

1. (transitive, figurative) To drain of energy or resources.

See also

• werewolf
• bloodsucker
• hemovore
• Vampire (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Common vampire bat on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Desmodus rotundus on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Desmodus rotundus on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
• Desmodus rotundus on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• The meaning of the word "vampire"

References

1. “vampire”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
2. “vampire”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.

• US Marine Corps, "Appendix E: Multiservice Tactical Brevity Codes", Operational Terms and Graphics, FM 101-5-1, MCRP 5-2A, 1997.

Anagrams

• vampier

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Esperanto

Etymology

vampiro (“vampire”) +‎ -e

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [vamˈpire]
• Rhymes: -ire
• Hyphenation: vam‧pi‧re

Adverb

vampire

1. vampirically

Related terms

• vampira (“vampiric”)
• vampiro (“vampire”)

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vɑ̃.piʁ/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: vam‧pire

Noun

vampire m (plural vampires)

1. vampire

Derived terms

• vampirique
• vampiriser
• vampirisme

Descendants

• → Armenian: վամպիր (vampir)
• → Asturian: vampiru
• → Belarusian: вампір (vampir)
• → Catalan: vampir
• → Czech: vampýr
• → English: vampire (see there for further descendants)
• → Galician: vampiro
• → Georgian: ვამპირი (vamṗiri)
• → Greek: βαμπίρ (vampír)
• → Italian: vampiro
• → Malagasy: vampira
• → Occitan: vampire
• → Romanian: vampir
• → Russian: вампир (vampir) (see there for further descendants)
• → Slovak: vampír
• → Spanish: vampiro, vampira
  • → Basque: banpiro
  • → Cebuano: bampira
  • → Tagalog: bampira
  • → Waray-Waray: bampira
• → Ottoman Turkish: وامپیر‎ (vampir)
  • Turkish: vampir
• → Ukrainian: вампір (vampir)

Further reading

• “vampire”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

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Portuguese

Verb

vampire

1. inflection of vampirar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

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Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [vamˈpi.re]

Noun

vampire f pl

1. plural of vampiră

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Turkish

Noun

vampire

1. dative singular of vampir