vamp

1 of 4

noun (1)

ˈvamp 

: a woman who uses her charm or wiles to seduce and exploit men

vampish

ˈvam-pish 

adjective

vamp

2 of 4

verb (1)

vamped; vamping; vamps

transitive verb

: to practice seductive wiles on

intransitive verb

: to act like a vamp

vamping for the camera

vamp

3 of 4

noun (2)

1

: the part of a shoe upper or boot upper covering especially the forepart of the foot and sometimes also extending forward over the toe or backward to the back seam of the upper

2

[derivative of vamp entry 4] : a short introductory musical passage often repeated several times (as in vaudeville) before a solo or between verses

vamp

4 of 4

verb (2)

vamped; vamping; vamps

transitive verb

1

a

: to provide (a shoe) with a new vamp

b

: to piece (something old) with a new part : patch

vamp up old sermons

2

: invent, fabricate

vamp up an excuse

intransitive verb

1

: to play a musical vamp

2

: improvise, extemporize

vamper noun

Synonyms

Verb (2)

• concoct
• construct
• contrive
• cook (up)
• devise
• drum up
• excogitate
• fabricate
• invent
• make up
• manufacture
• think (up)
• trump up

Examples of vamp in a Sentence

Verb (2)

political spin doctors who can vamp up a justification for just about anything

Recent Examples on the Web

Verb

Pictured below, this was a Hollywood icon dressed (in a dress that actually functioned as a dress) unapologetically made up to the nines, and vamping her heart out. —Guy Martin, Forbes, 26 Sep. 2024

And their evocation of the perfectionism of the younger Bruce, who would order the band to vamp for several hours as he sound-checked every corner of an arena, tells you a lot about him. —Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 10 Sep. 2024

In the livestream, which garnered hundreds of thousands of viewers, Gill vamped for about an hour against the backdrop of GameStop’s violently fluctuating share price. —Prarthana Prakash, Fortune, 15 June 2024

McCarthy vamps it up as the conniving Ursula, going big but not too big — the one special effect that escapes the rest of the film’s soulless spectacle. —Tim Grierson, Vulture, 4 May 2024

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

short for vampire

Noun (2)

Middle English vampe, vaumpe "covering for the foot, upper of a shoe," borrowed from Anglo-French, probably truncated from *vampé, reduced form of avanpié, from avant- "fore-" + pié "foot," going back to Latin ped-, pēs — more at vanguard, foot entry 1

First Known Use

Noun (1)

1918, in the meaning defined above

Verb (1)

circa 1915, in the meaning defined at transitive sense

Noun (2)

1914, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb (2)

1599, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1a