vamp

== English == === Pronunciation === (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA(key): /væmp/ Rhymes: -æmp === Etymology 1 === 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”). ==== Noun ==== 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. [from c. 1225] Something added to give an old thing a new appearance. Synonym: patch Something patched up, pieced together, improvised, or refurbished. (music) 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. [from c. 1789] (by extension) An activity or speech intended to fill or stall for time. ===== Translations ===== ==== Verb ==== vamp (third-person singular simple present vamps, present participle vamping, simple past and past participle vamped) (transitive) To patch, repair, or refurbish. Synonyms: revamp, vamp up (transitive) Often as vamp up: to fabricate or put together (something) from existing material, or by adding new material to something existing. (transitive) To cobble together, to extemporize, to improvise. (ambitransitive, music, specifically) To perform a vamp (“a repeated, often improvised accompaniment, for example, under dialogue or while waiting for a soloist to be ready”). (transitive, shoemaking) To attach a vamp (to footwear). (ambitransitive, now dialectal) To travel by foot; to walk. (intransitive) To delay or stall for time, as for an audience. (transitive, UK, slang, obsolete) To pawn. ===== Derived terms ===== newvamp, revamp vamp up vamper ===== Translations ===== ===== References ===== (pawn): John Camden Hotten (1873), The Slang Dictionary === Etymology 2 === 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. ==== Noun ==== vamp (plural vamps) A flirtatious, seductive woman, especially one who exploits men by using their sexual desire for her. [from c. 1915] Synonyms: femme fatale; see also Thesaurus:vamp (informal) A vampire. ===== Derived terms ===== ===== Related terms ===== ===== Translations ===== ==== Verb ==== vamp (third-person singular simple present vamps, present participle vamping, simple past and past participle vamped) (transitive, intransitive) To seduce or exploit someone. (fiction, slang, transitive) To turn (someone) into a vampire. (intransitive) To cosplay a vampire. ===== Translations ===== === Etymology 3 === Uncertain; possibly related to vamp (etymology 1, above): see the 2008 quotation. ==== Noun ==== vamp (plural vamps) (US, slang) A volunteer firefighter. ===== Translations ===== === References === === Further reading === vamp (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia == French == === Etymology === Borrowed from English vamp. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /vɑ̃p/ === Noun === vamp f (plural vamps) vamp; femme fatale ==== Derived terms ==== vamper === Further reading === “vamp”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012 == Italian == === Etymology === Borrowed from English vamp. === Noun === vamp f (invariable) vamp (flirtatious woman) == Spanish == === Noun === vamp m or f by sense (plural vamps) vamp