vamp

1 of 4

noun (1)

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

Examples of vamp in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Verb
In the end, Kimmel even had to vamp for a few minutes — more on that in a moment. Michael Schneider, Variety, 11 Mar. 2024 Not surprisingly given the film’s below-the-belt bent, a circumcision gag follows, while Rod has to vamp his way through all the fabulous attributes the trio have ascribed to Stanicky through the years. Brian Lowry, CNN, 6 Mar. 2024 The play's conclusion, which finds Gardner's apartment turned into a set that is being actively torn down, and Gardner vamping for the camera, is provocative but hollow. Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 20 Apr. 2023 With 20 minutes to go and only three awards to give out, Anderson had to vamp to kill a little time. Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Sep. 2019 But vamping it up in the audience, serving drinks and taking Polaroids with people, and playing up this tongue-in-cheek character is super fun for me. Hannah Summerhill, Vogue, 12 Jan. 2024 Coltrane’s version, by contrast, is a hypnotic, nearly 14-minute-long whirling dervish of a thing, vamping an E minor into E major again and again and again, chanting and droning, propelled by Tyner’s insistent, percussive left hand on the keys. Jeff MacGregor, Smithsonian Magazine, 5 Jan. 2024 But recognition from a vamping artificial neural net is better than nothing. Steven Levy, WIRED, 5 Jan. 2024 Cycling through a series of high boots, Beyoncé vogued and vamped, swaggered and stampeded. Bob Gendron, Chicago Tribune, 23 July 2023
Noun
Rather than presenting these characters as one-dimensional monsters, the movie presents vamps as flawed and tragic figures. Chris Snellgrove, EW.com, 16 Oct. 2023 Production enjoys playing dress-up with Beane, and Beane enjoys getting to embody an assortment of feisty vamp archetypes. Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 15 Jan. 2024 The more casual derby has an open lacing system where the quarters are sewn on top of the vamp. Isaiah Freeman-Schub, Robb Report, 7 Dec. 2023 As Shug, Margaret Avery runs the gamut from friend to vamp to repentant sinner and belts out a pair of Quincy Jones’ best in the bargain. Arthur Knight, The Hollywood Reporter, 15 Dec. 2023 Technically, oxfords are defined by a closed lacing system, which means the shoe’s quarters (those side panels where the eyelets are) are sewn underneath the vamp (the large front portion that goes over your foot). Isaiah Freeman-Schub, Robb Report, 7 Dec. 2023 The tease also seemed to preview what looked like a music video, with a shot in which Meg bared her vamp fangs again, as well as an image of a bowl of fruit and other totems on an altar. Gil Kaufman, Billboard, 24 Oct. 2023 Each vamp holds one of the hats to have been stuffed with either names or dares. Matt Thompson, SPIN, 8 Nov. 2023 Browse through 12 color options including bright yellow, green, light pink, royal blue, and black using Nike’s 3D builder to change 12 parts of the sneaker like the vamp, tip, tongue, lining, swoosh, midsole, and more. Lauren Fischer, Peoplemag, 1 Nov. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'vamp.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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

Time Traveler
The first known use of vamp was in 1599

Dictionary Entries Near vamp

Cite this Entry

“Vamp.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vamp. Accessed 18 Mar. 2024.

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