vamp

noun vamps

1. dialectal The part of hose or stockings which covers the foot and ankle; a sock or short stocking. Clings to everything she takes off. Vamp of her stockings. Warm shoe.
2. 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 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.
3. Something added to give an old thing a new appearance.

   Similar: patch

4. Something patched up, pieced together, improvised, or refurbished.
5. 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. He had little need to write distinctive vamps for his Williams [College] shows, but already in 1954—before the highly characteristic vamps in West Side Story—we see him growing in his ability to get under a character's skin through his accompaniment.
6. broadly An activity or speech intended to fill or stall for time.

Similar: enchantress, femme fatale, man-eater, mantrap, seductress, she-wolf, siren, temptress, vamp, vixen, wolfess · Opposite: girl next door, ingenue, Casanova, promiscuous man, rake

verb vamps · vamping · vamped

1. transitive 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.'

   Similar: revamp, vamp up

2. transitive 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.
3. transitive 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.
4. ambitransitive, specifically, transitive To perform a vamp (“a repeated, often improvised accompaniment, for example, under dialogue or while waiting for a soloist to be ready”). "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."
5. transitive To attach a vamp (to footwear). The shoe is now ready to be vamped after the eyelets are put in.
6. ambitransitive, dialectal 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.
7. intransitive To delay or stall for time, as for an audience. Keep vamping! Something’s wrong with the mic!
8. UK, obsolete, slang, transitive To pawn. 'I'll find my own fencing cove or else vamp it to a pawnbroker.'

noun vamps

1. 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.

   Similar: femme fatale

2. informal 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.

Similar: enchantress, femme fatale, man-eater, mantrap, seductress, she-wolf, siren, temptress, vamp, vixen, wolfess · Opposite: girl next door, ingenue, Casanova, promiscuous man, rake

verb vamps · vamping · vamped

1. intransitive, transitive 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.
2. slang, transitive To turn (someone) into a vampire. If I knew what I know now before I got vamped, I'd do the same thing.
3. intransitive To cosplay a vampire. I'm planning to vamp real hard at Friday night's party.

noun vamps

1. US, slang A volunteer firefighter. John Mackin is one of the old-timers of the new Department. He was a volunteer fireman as well, […] John Mackin was among the number of "old vamps" who made application to the first Board of Fire Commissioners for appointment in the Paid Department.

Similar: enchantress, femme fatale, man-eater, mantrap, seductress, she-wolf, siren, temptress, vamp, vixen, wolfess · Opposite: girl next door, ingenue, Casanova, promiscuous man, rake