bloodsucker

[ bluhd-suhk-er ]

/ ˈblʌdˌsʌk ər /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR bloodsucker ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

any animal that sucks blood, especially a leech.

an extortioner or usurer.

sponger(def 2).

RELATED WORDS

parasitical

Nearby words

Origin of bloodsucker

Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400; see origin at blood, sucker

Related formsblood·suck·ing, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for bloodsucking

A bloodsucking skill because, if done right, it means, in a business sense, never growing old.
The Stacks: How Leonard Chess Helped Make Muddy Waters|Alex Belth|August 2, 2014|DAILY BEAST
It does push him toward drawing a caricature of his own, one of slathering, bloodsucking right-wingers.
In Defense of the British Worker|Peter Hoskin|July 14, 2011|DAILY BEAST
This should not appear strange when it is considered that some animals harbor several thousand of the bloodsucking parasites.
Special Report on Diseases of Cattle|U.S. Department of Agriculture
If he had drowned thee, thou wouldst not have lived to bite my poor girl, like a bloodsucking vampire.
The Legend of Ulenspiegel, Vol. II (of 2)|Charles de Coster

Again, there are four things which like the bloodsucking horse-leech are always insatiable.
The Expositor's Bible: The Book of Proverbs|R. F. Horton

British Dictionary definitions for bloodsucking

bloodsucker

/ (ˈblʌdˌsʌkə) /

noun

an animal that sucks blood, esp a leech or mosquito

a person or thing that preys upon another person, esp by extorting money

Derived Formsbloodsucking, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for bloodsucking

bloodsucker

also blood-sucker, late 14c., of animals, from blood (n.) + sucker (n.); in the figurative sense, of persons, it is attested from 1660s.