English▸ noun
1 (in European folklore) a corpse supposed to leave its grave at night to drink the blood of the living by biting their necks with long pointed canine teeth.
▪ a person who preys ruthlessly on others:
the protectionist vampires in the Congress.
2 (also vampire bat) a small bat that feeds on the blood of mammals or birds using its two sharp incisor teeth and anticoagulant saliva, found mainly in tropical America. See also false vampire
Family Desmodontidae (or Phyllostomidae): three species, in particular the common vampire (Desmodus rotundus).
– ORIGIN mid 18th century: from French, from Hungarian vampir, perhaps from Turkish uber ‘witch’.