vamp
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /væmp/
rhymes: -æmp
Forms: form: vamps
form: vamping
form: vamped
form: vamped
Etymology: 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”).
Senses: examples: text: '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.'
ref: 1860, R[alph] W[aldo] Emerson, “Essay IX. Illusions.”, in The Conduct of Life, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, page 284:
glosses: To patch, repair, or refurbish.
examples: text: He has vamp'd an old speech, and the court to their sorrow, / Shall hear him harangue against Prior to morrow.
ref: 1711 [December?] (date written), Jonathan Swift, “An Excellent New Song. Being the Intended Speech of a Famous Orator against Peace [i.e., Daniel Finch, 2nd Earl of Nottingham].”, in Thomas Sheridan, John Nichols, editors, The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, […], new edition, volume VII, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1801, →OCLC, page 72:
text: For instance, you take the uncompleted books of living authors, fresh from their hands, wet from the press, cut, hack, and carve them to the powers and capacities of your actors, and the capability of your theatres, finish unfinished works, hastily and crudely vamp up ideas not yet worked out by their original projector, but which have doubtless cost him many thoughtful days and sleepless nights; […]
ref: 1838 March – 1839 October, Charles Dickens, “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Vincent Crummles, and Positively His Last Appearance on the Stage”, in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1839, →OCLC, page 478:
text: With real though rude art, the harlequin danced slowly backwards out of the door into the garden, which was full of moonlight and stillness. The vamped dress of silver paper and paste, which had been too glaring in the footlights, looked more and more magical and silvery as it danced away under a brilliant moon.
ref: 1911 May 20, G[ilbert] K[eith] Chesterton, “The Flying Stars”, in The Innocence of Father Brown, London; New York, N.Y.: Cassell and Company, published 1911, →OCLC, page 112:
glosses: Often as vamp up: to fabricate or put together (something) from existing material, or by adding new material to something existing.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1728, [Alexander Pope], “Book the First”, in The Dunciad. An Heroic Poem. […], Dublin; London: […] A. Dodd, →OCLC, page 13, lines 228–230:
text: 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; […]
ref: a. 1746, Jonathan Swift, Samuel Johnson, “A Vindication of the Libel: Or, A New Ballad, Written by a Shoe-boy, on an Attorney who was Formerly a Shoe-boy”, in The Works of the English Poets. With Prefaces, Biographical and Critical, […], volumes XLIV (Containing Swift and Broome), London: Printed by T. Spilsbury and Son; for J[ames] Buckland, […], published 1790, →OCLC, page 76:
text: [S]ome men, nay, even some monks and brothers of this very house, are so envious of my state and foes to my peace of mind, that whenever they see me more happy and fuller of hope than common, they vamp me up some story or conjure some spectrum to disquiet me and sadden me!
ref: 1844, [Charles MacFarlane], “Lord Hereward Goes to Get His Own”, in The Camp of Refuge. In Two Volumes, volume I, London: Charles Knight & Co., Ludgate Street, →OCLC, page 120:
glosses: To cobble together, to extemporize, to improvise.
examples: text: "It is so unkind to joke about it," said the beautiful young lady. "What shall I do? If somebody will vamp an accompaniment, I can get on very well without any music. But if I try to play for myself I shall break down."
ref: 1880, [George] Bernard Shaw, chapter I, in The Irrational Knot … Being the Second Novel of His Nonage, London: Archibald Constable & Co., published 1905, →OCLC, page 14:
text: The band played ceaselessly. Even when the other instruments were resting the pianist kept up his monotonous vamping, with a dreary furbelow for embellishment here and there, to which some few of the dancers continued to shuffle round the floor.
ref: 1954, Alexander Alderson, chapter 4, in The Subtle Minotaur, London: John Gifford […], →OCLC, →OL, page 52:
text: [W]hen she [Billie Holiday] finally emerged from her dressing room, she would take her time getting to the stage, stopping and greeting people and even having drinks at the bar while her accompanists vamped.
ref: 1994, Donald Clarke, “The War Years”, in Wishing on the Moon: The Life and Times of Billie Holiday, New York, N.Y.: Viking, →ISBN; republished as Billie Holiday: Wishing on the Moon, Cambridge, Mass.: Da Capo Press, 2002, →ISBN, page 206:
topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
glosses: 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”).
examples: text: The shoe is now ready to be vamped after the eyelets are put in.
ref: 1899, [Charles B. Hatfield], “Cloth Quarters and Welt Shoes”, in Designing, Cutting and Grading Boot and Shoe Patterns: And Complete Manual for the Stitching Room. […], Boston, Mass.: Press of Superintendent and Foreman, →OCLC, page 56:
qualifier: shoemaking
glosses: To attach a vamp (to footwear).
examples: text: Well, vamp on to Marlott, will 'ee, and order that carriage, and maybe I'll drive round and inspect the club.
ref: 1891, Thomas Hardy, chapter I, in Tess of the d’Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented […], volume I, London: James R[ipley] Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., […], →OCLC, phase the first (The Maiden), page 12:
glosses: To travel by foot; to walk.
examples: text: Keep vamping! Something’s wrong with the mic!
text: She went out there to vamp since the speaker was late arriving.
glosses: To delay or stall for time, as for an audience.
examples: text: 'I'll find my own fencing cove or else vamp it to a pawnbroker.'
ref: 2017, Jake Arnott, The Fatal Tree:
glosses: To pawn.
Derived terms: newvamp
revamp
vamp up
vamper