vamp

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   The top part of a boot or shoe, above the sole and welt and in front of the ankle seam,…

   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.
   • Their dark brown shoes had hand-stitched vamps.
2. 2

   Something added to give an old thing a new appearance.

3. 3

   Something patched up, pieced together, improvised, or refurbished.

4. ›+ 15 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      A repeated and often improvised accompaniment, usually consisting of one or two measures,…

      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.

      • 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.
   2. 5

      An activity or speech intended to fill or stall for time.

   3. 6

      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.'
   4. 7

      Often as vamp up

      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.
   5. 8

      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.
      • 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; […]
   6. 9

      To attach a vamp (to footwear).

      • The shoe is now ready to be vamped after the eyelets are put in.
   7. 10

      To travel by foot

      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.
   8. 11

      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.
   9. 12

      To pawn.

      • 'I'll find my own fencing cove or else vamp it to a pawnbroker.'
   10. 13

       A flirtatious, seductive woman, especially one who exploits men by using their sexual…

       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.
       • 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.
       • "Lady Miriam?" said Jarvis in surprise. "Oh, yes. … I suppose you mean that she looks a queer sort of vamp. But you've no notion what even the ladies of the best families are looking like nowadays.[…]"
   11. 14

       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.
   12. 15

       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.
       • "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."
       • She smiled again. Batted her lashes and laid down a few more mascara tracks. Vamping in order to maintain composure.
   13. 16

       To turn (someone) into a vampire.

       • If I knew what I know now before I got vamped, I'd do the same thing.
       • Astonishing how few peasants and regular people got vamped back in the olden days, when it wasn't regulated.
       • Nobody ever got the drop on Shades, not even when he was alive, and certainly not in the fifty years since he got vamped.
   14. 17

       To cosplay a vampire.

       • I'm planning to vamp real hard at Friday night's party.
   15. 18

       A volunteer firefighter.

       • The vamps had to carry their equipment to the fire on foot!
       • Volunteer firemen are called vamps because they often went to fires on foot, vamp being an old English word for "walk." Syosset's first vamps responded quickly to fires and formed bucket brigades to extinguish them.

The neighborhood

• synonymenchantress
• synonymfemme fatale
• synonymman-eater
• synonymmantrap
• synonymseductress
• synonymshe-wolf
• synonymsiren
• synonymtemptress
• synonymvamp
• synonymvixen
• synonymwolfess
• antonymgirl next door
• antonymingenue
• antonymCasanova
• antonympromiscuous man
• antonymrake
• neighborpromiscuous woman
• neighborwoman
• neighborbeautiful woman
• neighbordandyess
• neighborseductor
• neighbortempter
• neighborcoquette
• neighborflirt
• neighborvampie