Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
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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.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Something added to give an old thing a new appearance.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: patch
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Something patched up, pieced together, improvised, or refurbished.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
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.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: entertainment, lifestyle, music
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
An activity or speech intended to fill or stall for time.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: broadly
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A flirtatious, seductive woman, especially one who exploits men by using their sexual desire for her.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: femme fatale
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A vampire.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: informal
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A volunteer firefighter.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: US, slang
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To patch, repair, or refurbish.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: revamp, vamp up
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Often as vamp up: to fabricate or put together (something) from existing material, or by adding new material to something existing.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To cobble together, to extemporize, to improvise.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To cobble together, to extemporize, to improvise.
To perform a vamp (“a repeated, often improvised accompaniment, for example, under dialogue or while waiting for a soloist to be ready”).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: ambitransitive, specifically, transitive
Topics: entertainment, lifestyle, music
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To attach a vamp (to footwear).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
Qualifier: shoemaking
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To travel by foot; to walk.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: ambitransitive, dialectal
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To delay or stall for time, as for an audience.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: intransitive
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To pawn.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: UK, obsolete, slang, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To seduce or exploit someone.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: intransitive, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To turn (someone) into a vampire.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: slang, transitive
Topics: fiction, literature, media, publishing
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To cosplay a vampire.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: intransitive
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
piece of leather forming the front part of the upper of a shoe
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: piece of leather
noun
an improvised musical accompaniment
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: accompaniment, musical accompaniment, backup, support
noun
a seductive woman who uses her sex appeal to exploit men
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: coquette, flirt, vamper, minx, tease, prickteaser
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: woman, adult female
verb
provide (a shoe) with a new vamp
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Synonyms: revamp
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: repair, mend, fix, bushel, doctor, furbish up, restore, touch on
verb
act seductively with (someone)
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: chat up, flirt, dally, butterfly, coquet, coquette, romance, philander, mash
verb
piece (something old) with a new part
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Synonyms: vamp up
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: patch, piece
verb
make up
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Synonyms: vamp up
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: fabricate, manufacture, cook up, make up, invent
History
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.
Across languages
34 source translations are retained for this English entry.
