time vampire

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English

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Etymology

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From time +‎ vampire.

Noun

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time vampire (plural time vampires)

  1. (informal, derogatory) A person, obligation, or activity that drains one's time; a time-waster.
    • 1994, Davida Jean Weinberg, Reciprocity Reconsidered, page 287:
      The telephone is to time vampires what blood banks are to real vampires.
    • 2001, Ted Broer, Maximum Fat Loss:
      TV is the biggest time vampire in our culture.
    • 2004, Shaun Belding, Winning with the Customer from Hell, page 184:
      Believe it or not, a "gentle clue" to a time vampire is the equivalent of a two-by-four over the head for most people.
    • 2005, Judy Steinberg, Raechel Donahue, The Ropes: Girls Have the Rules, Women Know the Ropes, page 159:
      The night is a time-vampire as far as taking care of your skin goes.
    • 2013, T. Ferguson, Victorian Time: Technologies, Standardizations, Catastrophes, page 24:
      That any systematic critique of the capitalist employer as time vampire is thereby short-circuited is plain.
    • 2020, Brent Spencer, A Handbook for the Online Student: Learning in Difficult Times:
      Yes, the apps on your computer and phone are the biggest time vampires of all time.
  2. (science fiction) A variety of vampire that feeds off time or potential years of life.
    • 1997, Brad Strickland, John Bellairs, The Bell, the Book and the Spellbinder:
      Do you mean that Jarmyn Thanatos is some kind of a— a time vampire?
    • 2017, Emily Martha Sorensen, Trials of a Teenage Werevulture:
      “I'm a time vampire,” Loretta Vampireclanso-called-jiangshi said. “I can take time from people, or give it away.”
    • 2023, Eileen Merriman, Time's Raven:
      But I was laying low, and vampires can't always be choosers, even time vampires.

See also

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Anagrams

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