vampy

vamp ¹

 (vămp)

n.

1. The upper part of a boot or shoe covering the instep and sometimes extending over the toe.

2.

a. Something patched up or refurbished.

b. Something rehashed, as a book based on old material.

3. Music One or more bars of music repeated indefinitely as an accompaniment.

v. vamped, vamp·ing, vamps

v.tr.

1. To provide (a shoe) with a new vamp.

2. To patch up (something old); refurbish.

3. To put together; fabricate or improvise: With no hard news available about the summit meeting, the reporters vamped up questions based only on rumor.

4. Music

a. To play (a vamp).

b. To improvise (a melody) over a vamp.

v.intr. Music

1. To play a vamp.

2. To improvise over a vamp.

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[Middle English vampe, sock, from Old French avanpie : avaunt, before; see vanguard + pie, foot (from Latin pēs; see ped- in Indo-European roots).]

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vamp′er n.

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vamp ²

(vămp) Informal

n.

1. A woman who aggressively seduces men, sometimes to exploit or manipulate them.

2. A vampire.

v. vamped, vamp·ing, vamps

v. tr.

To seduce or exploit (someone) in the manner of a vamp.

v. intr.

To behave like a vamp.

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[Short for vampire.]

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vamp′ish adj.

vamp′ish·ly adv.

vamp′y adj.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

vampy

(ˈvæmpɪ)

adj, -pier or -piest

like a vamp; vampish

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014