• (RP, America) IPA: /væmp/

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”).

The verb senses were derived from the noun.

vamp (plural vamps)

1. 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. [from c. 1225]
   • 1869, R[ichard] D[oddridge] Blackmore, chapter XX, in Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor. […], volume II, London: Sampson Low, Son, & Marston, […], →OCLC ↗, pages 279–280 ↗:

     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.

   • 1883 March, Thomas Hardy, “The Three Strangers”, in Wessex Tales: Strange, Lively, and Commonplace […], volume I, London, New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., published 1888, →OCLC ↗, page 24 ↗:

     'Yes, I am rather cracked in the vamp,' he said freely, seeing that the eyes of the shepherd's wife fell upon his boots, 'and I am not well fitted either. I have had rough times lately, and have been forced to pick up what I can get in the way of wearing, but I must find a suit better fit for working days when I reach home.'

2. Something added to give an old thing a new appearance.

   Synonyms: patch

3. Something patched up, pieced together, improvised, or refurbished.
4. (music) 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. [from c. 1789]
5. (by extension) An activity or speech intended to fill or stall for time.

• French: empeigne
• Spanish: pala, pala vega, empeine

vamp (vamps, present participle vamping; simple past and past participle vamped)

1. (transitive) To patch, repair, or refurbish.
   • 1860, R[alph] W[aldo] Emerson, “Essay IX. Illusions.”, in The Conduct of Life, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC ↗, page 284 ↗:

     '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.'

2. (transitive) Often as vamp up: to fabricate or put together (something) from existing material, or by adding new material to something existing.
   • 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 ↗:

     He has vamp'd an old speech, and the court to their sorrow, / Shall hear him harangue against Prior to morrow.

   • 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 ↗:

     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; […]

   • 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 ↗:

     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.

3. (transitive) To cobble together, to extemporize, to improvise.
   • 1728, [Alexander Pope], “Book the First”, in The Dunciad. An Heroic Poem. […], Dublin, London: […] A. Dodd, →OCLC ↗, page 13 ↗:

     A paſt, vamp'd, future, old, reviv'd, new piece, / 'Twixt Plautus, Fletcher, Congreve, and Corneille, / Can make a C――r, Jo――n, or O――ll.

   1. (ambitransitive, music, specifically) To perform a vamp.
      • 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 ↗:

        "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."

4. (transitive, shoemaking) To attach a vamp (to footwear).
5. (ambitransitive, now, dialectal) To travel by foot; to walk.
   • 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 ↗:

     Well, vamp on to Marlott, will 'ee, and order that carriage, and maybe I'll drive round and inspect the club.

6. (intransitive) To delay or stall for time, as for an audience.

   Keep vamping! Something’s wrong with the mic!

   She went out there to vamp since the speaker was late arriving.

7. (transitive, UK, slang, obsolete) To pawn.
   • 2017, Jake Arnott, The Fatal Tree:

     'I'll find my own fencing cove or else vamp it to a pawnbroker.'

The verb is derived from the noun.

vamp (plural vamps)

1. A flirtatious, seductive woman, especially one who exploits men by using their sexual desire for her; femme fatale. [from c. 1915]

   Synonyms: Thesaurus:vamp

   • 1922, F[rancis] Scott Fitzgerald, “The Connoisseur of Kisses”, in The Beautiful and Damned, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner's Sons, →OCLC ↗, book 1, page 95 ↗:

     She was got up to the best of her ability as a siren, more popularly a "vamp"—a picker up and thrower away of men, an unscrupulous and fundamentally unmoved toyer with affections.

   • 1927 September, G[ilbert] K[eith] Chesteron, “The Actor and the Alibi”, in The Secret of Father Brown, London, Toronto, Ont.: Cassell and Company, →OCLC ↗, [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b4097210;view=1up;seq=168 page 148]:

     "Lady Miriam?" said Jarvis in surprise. "Oh, yes. … I suppose you mean that she looks a queer sort of vamp. But you've no notion what even the ladies of the best families are looking like nowadays. […]"

2. (informal) A vampire.

• French: vamp
• German: Vamp
• Portuguese: vampe
• Russian: вамп

vamp (vamps, present participle vamping; simple past and past participle vamped)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To seduce or exploit someone.
2. (fiction, slang, transitive) To turn (someone) into a vampire.

vamp (plural vamps)

1. (US, slang) A volunteer firefighter.