|






|
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 vampyres 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.
Damned (?),
a.
1. Sentenced to punishment in a future state; condemned; consigned
to perdition.
2. Hateful; detestable; abominable.
.....taken from Webster's Dictionary, 1913
|





|