different between vamp vs yamp

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /væmp/
• Rhymes: -æmp

Etymology 1

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”).

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]
3. Something added to give an old thing a new appearance.

   Synonym: patch

4. Something patched up, pieced together, improvised, or refurbished.
5. (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]
6. (by extension) An activity or speech intended to fill or stall for time.

Translations

Verb

vamp (third-person singular simple present vamps, present participle vamping, simple past and past participle vamped)

2. (transitive) To patch, repair, or refurbish.
3. (transitive) Often as vamp up: to fabricate or put together (something) from existing material, or by adding new material to something existing.
   • 1711, Jonathan Swift, An Excellent New Song

     He has vamp'd an old speech, and the court to their sorrow, / Shall hear him harangue against Prior to morrow.
4. (transitive) To cobble together, to extemporize, to improvise.
   1. (transitive, intransitive, music, specifically) To perform a vamp (“a repeated, often improvised accompaniment, for example, under dialogue or while waiting for a soloist to be ready”).
5. (transitive, shoemaking) To attach a vamp (to footwear).
6. (transitive, intransitive, now dialectal) To travel by foot; to walk.
7. (intransitive) To delay or stall for time, as for an audience.

Derived terms

• new-vamp, revamp
• vamp up
• vamper

Etymology 2

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.

Noun

vamp (plural vamps)

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

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:vamp
3. (informal) A vampire.

Derived terms

• vampish

Translations

Verb

vamp (third-person singular simple present vamps, present participle vamping, simple past and past participle vamped)

1. (transitive) To seduce or exploit someone.

Translations

Etymology 3

Origin uncertain; possibly related to vamp (etymology 1, above): see the 2008 quotation.

Noun

vamp (plural vamps)

1. (US, slang) A volunteer firefighter.

Translations

References

Further reading

• vamp (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from English vamp.

Noun

vamp f (invariable)

1. vamp (flirtatious woman)

Spanish

Noun

vamp m or f (plural vamps)

1. vamp

English

Etymology

Probably related to yampah, from Shoshone.

Noun

yamp (uncountable)

1. An umbelliferous plant, Perideridia gairdneri, native to California, whose tubers were used as food by Native Americans.

See also

• yampah