Vampire

believed vam'plr, to rise n. A dead person superstitiously from the grave by night, and maintain a spectral life by sucking the blood of living persons while they are asleep; one who lives by preying on others; an extortioner. (Zool.) A large species of blood-sucking bat found in Vampire. (Zool.) tropical Amer., which stealthily attacks animals, and sometimes men, in their sleep.— Vam'pirism, -pTrizm, n. Belief in the existence of vampires; the practice of blood-sucking; practice of extortion.