vampire

UK: /ˈvæmpaɪə^r/ US: /ˈvæmpaɪr/ ,(vam′pī^ər)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

vam•pire /ˈvæmpaɪr/   n. [countable]

1. Mythology
   • a corpse believed to come alive and leave the grave, typically in order to suck the blood of sleeping persons at night.
2. a person who preys ruthlessly upon others.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

vam•pire  (vam′pī^ər), n. 

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.

• Slavic *u-pirĭ or *ǫ-pirĭ, probably a deverbal compound with *per- fly, rush (literal meaning variously interpreted)
• Slavic vù-), and with intrusive nasal, as in dùbrava, dumbrȁva grove); akin to Czech upír, Polish upiór, Old Russian upyrĭ, upirĭ, (Russian upýr’)
• Serbo-Croatian vàmpīr, alteration of earlier upir (by confusion with doublets such as vȁzdūh, ȕzdūh air (
• German Vampir
• French)
• (1725–35

vam•pir•ic  (vam pir′ik), vam•pir•ish  (vam′pī^ər ish), adj. 

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

vampire / ˈvæmpaɪə/ noun

1. (in European folklore) a corpse that rises nightly from its grave to drink the blood of the living
2. See vampire bat
3. a person who preys mercilessly upon others, such as a blackmailer
4. See vamp11

Etymology: 18th Century: from French, from German Vampir, from Magyar; perhaps related to Turkish uber witch, Russian upyr vampire

vampiric / væmˈpɪrɪk/, ˈvampirish adjective