Definition of vampyre. Meaning of vampyre. Synonyms of vampyre
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Definition of vampyre
vampyre 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.
