time vampire

English

Etymology

From time +‎ vampire.

Noun

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

• energy vampire

Anagrams

• vampire time