vamp
UK/væmp/
vamp noun: the top part of a boot or shoe, above the sole and welt and in front of the ankle seam, that covers the instep and toes; the front part of an upper; the analogous part of a stocking.
Noun (1)
vamp (plural vamps)
- The top part of a boot or shoe, above the sole and welt and in front of the ankle seam, that covers the instep and toes; the front part of an upper; the analogous part of a stocking.
- The flow of water was in my ears, and in my eyes a hazy spreading, and upon my brain a closure, as a cobbler sews a vamp up.1869, R[ichard] D[oddridge] Blackmore, chapter XX, in Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor. […], volume II, London: Sampson Low, Son, & Marston, […], →OCLC, pages 279–280
- 'Yes, I am rather cracked in the vamp,' he said freely, seeing that the eyes of the shepherd's wife fell upon his boots, 'and I am not well fitted either. I have had rough times lately, and have been forced to pick up what I can get in the way of wearing, but I must find a suit better fit for...1883 March, Thomas Hardy, “The Three Strangers”, in Wessex Tales: Strange, Lively, and Commonplace […], volume I, London; New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., published 1888, →OCLC, page 24
- Something added to give an old thing a new appearance.
- Synonyms:
- patch
- Something patched up, pieced together, improvised, or refurbished.
- A repeated and often improvised accompaniment, usually consisting of one or two measures, often a single chord or simple chord progression, repeated as necessary, for example, to accommodate dialogue or to anticipate the entrance of a soloist.
- I would go even further and say that, once [Stephen] Sondheim had ceased to compose classical music with its nonspecific accompaniments, he began to explore how effectively a vamp can flesh out a character for the stage. He had little need to write distinctive vamps for his Williams [College]...2005, Steve Swayne, “Pulling It Apart”, in How Sondheim Found His Sound, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press, →ISBN, page 116
- On the mega-rave circuit, a pop hardcore sound gradually emerged, fusing the piano vamps and shrieking divas of 1989-era Italo house with Belgian hardcore's monster-riffs and Shut Up and Dance style breakbeats and rumblin' bass.2012, Simon Reynolds, “’Ardcore, You Know the Score”, in Energy Flash: A Journey through Rave Music and Dance Culture, Berkeley, Calif.: Soft Skull Press, →ISBN, page 119
- An activity or speech intended to fill or stall for time.
Verb (1)
vamp (third-person singular simple present vamps, present participle vamping, simple past and past participle vamped)
- To patch, repair, or refurbish.
- 'Set me some great task, ye gods! and I will show my spirit.' 'Not so,' says the good Heaven; 'plod and plough, vamp your old coats and hats, weave a shoestring; great affairs and the best wine by and by.'1860, R[alph] W[aldo] Emerson, “Essay IX. Illusions.”, in The Conduct of Life, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, page 284
- Often as vamp up: to fabricate or put together (something) from existing material, or by adding new material to something existing.
- He has vamp'd an old speech, and the court to their sorrow, / Shall hear him harangue against Prior to morrow.1711 [December?] (date written), Jonathan Swift, “An Excellent New Song. Being the Intended Speech of a Famous Orator against Peace [i.e., Daniel Finch, 2nd Earl of Nottingham].”, in Thomas Sheridan...
- For instance, you take the uncompleted books of living authors, fresh from their hands, wet from the press, cut, hack, and carve them to the powers and capacities of your actors, and the capability of your theatres, finish unfinished works, hastily and crudely vamp up ideas not yet worked out by...1838 March – 1839 October, Charles Dickens, “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Vincent Crummles, and Positively His Last Appearance on the Stage”, in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, London...
- To cobble together, to extemporize, to improvise.
- A paſt, vamp'd, future, old, reviv'd, nevv piece, / 'Tvvixt Plautus, Fletcher, Congreve, and Corneille, / Can make a C——r, Jo——n, or O——ll.1728, [Alexander Pope], “Book the First”, in The Dunciad. An Heroic Poem. […], Dublin; London: […] A. Dodd, →OCLC, page 13, lines 228–230
- Two pence he had gotten by begging, that 's all; / One bought him a bruſh, and one a black ball; / […] / Thus vamp'd and accoutred, with clouts, ball, and bruſh, / He gallantly ventur'd his fortune to puſh; […]a. 1746, Jonathan Swift, Samuel Johnson, “A Vindication of the Libel: Or, A New Ballad, Written by a Shoe-boy, on an Attorney who was Formerly a Shoe-boy”, in The Works of the English Poets. With...
- To perform a vamp (“a repeated, often improvised accompaniment, for example, under dialogue or while waiting for a soloist to be ready”).
- "It is so unkind to joke about it," said the beautiful young lady. "What shall I do? If somebody will vamp an accompaniment, I can get on very well without any music. But if I try to play for myself I shall break down."1880, [George] Bernard Shaw, chapter I, in The Irrational Knot … Being the Second Novel of His Nonage, London: Archibald Constable & Co., published 1905, →OCLC, page 14
- The band played ceaselessly. Even when the other instruments were resting the pianist kept up his monotonous vamping, with a dreary furbelow for embellishment here and there, to which some few of the dancers continued to shuffle round the floor.1954, Alexander Alderson, chapter 4, in The Subtle Minotaur, London: John Gifford […], →OCLC, →OL, page 52
- To attach a vamp (to footwear).
- The shoe is now ready to be vamped after the eyelets are put in.1899, [Charles B. Hatfield], “Cloth Quarters and Welt Shoes”, in Designing, Cutting and Grading Boot and Shoe Patterns: And Complete Manual for the Stitching Room. […], Boston, Mass.: Press of...
- To travel by foot; to walk.
- Well, vamp on to Marlott, will 'ee, and order that carriage, and maybe I'll drive round and inspect the club.1891, Thomas Hardy, chapter I, in Tess of the d’Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented […], volume I, London: James R[ipley] Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., […], →OCLC, phase the first (The...
- To delay or stall for time, as for an audience.
- Keep vamping! Something’s wrong with the mic!
- She went out there to vamp since the speaker was late arriving.
- To pawn.
- 'I'll find my own fencing cove or else vamp it to a pawnbroker.'2017, Jake Arnott, The Fatal Tree
Noun (2)
vamp (plural vamps)
- A flirtatious, seductive woman, especially one who exploits men by using their sexual desire for her.
- It is the vamp who has a sense of humor that can really hold a man. She laughs at him, even as she is seeking to allure him—and he adores it.1919 June, Renee Van Dyke, “Interesting Paragraphs about the Players”, in Geo[rge] M. Downs, Jr., editor, The Photo-play World, volume 2, number 8, Philadelphia, Pa.: The Downs Publishing Company...
- She was got up to the best of her ability as a siren, more popularly a "vamp"—a picker up and thrower away of men, an unscrupulous and fundamentally unmoved toyer with affections.1922, F[rancis] Scott Fitzgerald, “The Connoisseur of Kisses”, in The Beautiful and Damned, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, book 1, page 95
- Synonyms:
- femme fatale
- A vampire.
- The leader of the vampire cult (played by Ramon D'Salva) leads his cult of fellow vamps in an attack against some nasty werewolves.1992, Robert Marrero, Dracula: The Vampire Legend on Film, 1st American edition, Key West, Fla.: Fantasma Books, →ISBN, page 20, column 2
Verb (2)
vamp (third-person singular simple present vamps, present participle vamping, simple past and past participle vamped)
- To seduce or exploit someone.
- We want a musical-comedy star to vamp a Senator or a member of the Cabinet; we want the protective tariff revised up or down because of an actress' whim; we want scarlet scandal in high life. And we are not likely to get them.1926 November, Gilbert Seldes, “Exit the Poor Actor!: Out at Elbow No Longer, Our Players To-day are among America’s Most Prosperous Citizens”, in Arthur Hornblow, editor, Theatre Magazine, volume...
- "People who lose all their charity generally lose all their logic," remarked Father Brown. "It's rather ridiculous to complain that she keeps to herself; and then accuse her of vamping the whole male population."1936, G[ilbert] K[eith] Chesterton, “The Vampire of the Village”, in The Penguin Complete Father Brown, Harmondsworth, Middlesex, London: Penguin Books, published 1985, →OCLC, page 707
- To turn (someone) into a vampire.
- If I knew what I know now before I got vamped, I'd do the same thing.2004, David Sosnowski, Vamped: A Novel, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 277
- Astonishing how few peasants and regular people got vamped back in the olden days, when it wasn't regulated.2012, Justine Larbalestier, Sarah Rees Brennan, Team Human, Harper Collins, →ISBN
- To cosplay a vampire.
- I'm planning to vamp real hard at Friday night's party.
Noun (3)
vamp (plural vamps)
- A volunteer firefighter.
- John Mackin is one of the old-timers of the new Department. He was a volunteer fireman as well, […] John Mackin was among the number of "old vamps" who made application to the first Board of Fire Commissioners for appointment in the Paid Department.1892, “Companies of the Seventh District”, in Our Firemen: The Official History of the Brooklyn Fire Department, from the First Volunteer to the Latest Appointee. Compiled from the Records of the...
- The vamps had to carry their equipment to the fire on foot!2000, “History of the Atlanta Fire Department”, in History of Service: Atlanta Fire Department Commemorative Yearbook, Paducah, Ky.: Turner Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 25, column 1
vamp meaning in Urdu
vamp in Urdu
- عیارہ, جوڑ, پیوند, قحبہ, بنانا, گانٹھنا
Examples of vamp in a sentence
- 'Yes, I am rather cracked in the vamp,' he said freely, seeing that the eyes of the shepherd's wife fell upon his boots, 'and I am not well fitted either.1883 March, Thomas Hardy, “The Three Strangers”, in Wessex Tales: Strange, Lively, and Commonplace […], volume I, London; New York, N.Y....
- Their dark brown shoes had hand-stitched vamps.1976, Chaim Grade, translated by Curt Leviant, The Yeshiva, Indianapolis, Ind.: Bobbs-Merrill Company, →ISBN, page 164:
- The vamped dress of silver paper and paste, which had been too glaring in the footlights, looked more and more magical and silvery as it danced away under a brilliant moon.1911 May 20, G[ilbert] K[eith] Chesterton, “The Flying Stars”, in The Innocence of Father Brown, London; New York, N.Y.: Cassell and...
- "Oh, yes. … I suppose you mean that she looks a queer sort of vamp.1927 September, G[ilbert] K[eith] Chesterton, “The Actor and the Alibi”, in The Secret of Father Brown, London; Toronto, Ont.: Cassell and...
Synonyms of vamp
Antonyms
- girl next door
- ingenue
- Casanova
- promiscuous man
- rake
Forms of vamp
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | vamps |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | vamps |
| present participle | vamping |
| past participle | vamped |
| past | vamped |
Origin of vamp
From Middle English vaumpe, vaum-pei, vampe (“covering for the foot, perhaps a slipper or understocking; upper of a boot or shoe”), or from Anglo-Norman vampe, *vaumpé (“part of a stocking covering the top of the foot”), from Old French avantpied, avantpiet, variants of avantpié, from avant (“in front”) + pié (“foot”). Noun senses 2 and 3 (“a patch; something patched up or improvised”) appear to have been extended from sense 1 (“top part of a boot or shoe”). Sense 4 (“repeated and often improvised musical accompaniment”) was probably derived from sense 3, and sense 5 (“activity to fill or stall for time”) from sense 4. The verb senses were derived from the noun. Compare also Middle English vaum-peien (“(uncertain) to repair (footwear) with a new upper or vamp; to fabricate an upper or vamp”).
Clipping of vampire. From a character type developed first for silent film, notably for Theda Bara's role in the 1915 film A Fool There Was. The verb is derived from the noun.
Uncertain; possibly related to vamp (etymology 1, above): see the 2008 quotation.
Words formed from vamp
Words that rhyme with vamp
Questions about vamp
- What does vamp mean?
- Vamp means the top part of a boot or shoe, above the sole and welt and in front of the ankle seam, that covers the instep and toes; the front part of an upper; the analogous part of a stocking.
- What is vamp in Urdu?
- Vamp in Urdu is عیارہ, جوڑ, پیوند. See Vamp meaning in Urdu.
- How do you use vamp in a sentence?
- 'Yes, I am rather cracked in the vamp,' he said freely, seeing that the eyes of the shepherd's wife fell upon his boots, 'and I am not well fitted either.
- What part of speech is vamp?
- Vamp can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce vamp?
- Vamp is pronounced /væmp/ (UK).
- What is the plural of vamp?
- The plural of vamp is vamps.
Words near vamp in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: vamp (page history and authors); vamp (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-vamp.ogg, en-au-vamp.ogg.
Cite this entry: “vamp.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/vamp. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.