DRACULA Definition & Meaning

Dracula

[ drak-yuh-luh ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

(italics) a novel (1897) by Bram Stoker.
Count, the central character in this novel: the archetype of a vampire.

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51�Թ� History and Origins

Origin uncertain; perhaps from Romanian �ٰ�ă��ܱ��, a diminutive or patronymic of ��ă��ܱ� “the dragon,” and derived from a knightly order called the “Order of the Dragon” ( Ordo Draconum ), founded in 1408 by the Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund ( 1368–1437 ), then king of Hungary, to defend Christianity and the Empire against the Ottoman Turks. After Vlad II Dracul (c. 1395–1447 ) was admitted to the order around 1431, he wore the dragon emblem of the order. Later, when Vlad II was prince of Wallachia (now part of Romania), his coinage bore the image of the dragon, from which the name Dracula is derived. Vlad II’s son, Vlad III (Vlad Ţepeş “Vlad the Impaler,” ��.1431–c.1476 ) is most likely the model for the Bram Stoker character. dragon

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

All one really needs to know is she’s trying to control Dracula, and that sets off a war among monsters, with her own coming to her defense.

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Bram Stoker's novel Dracula has been adapted numerous times, and vampires in general are never far from our screens.

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“I have joked — and it’s not a bad comp — that we’re reaching for Merchant/Ivory doing Hammer Horror,” says Eggers, who staged a version of the Germanic “Dracula” doppelgänger in high school.

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“In ‘Dracula,’ Lugosi is going to London for, I don’t know, world domination,” the director explains.

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From the melodic Sicilian ghosts of “The Godfather” by composer Nino Rota to the aching Eastern European love theme in “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” by Wojciech Kilar, his stories ooze with musical expression.

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