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vamp

Posted: Fri Jul 26, 2013 3:51 pm
by eberntson
From the song "I want to be bad" by Annette Hanshaw

...
If it's naughty to vamp the men,
Sleep each morning till after ten,
Let a lady confess, "Yes, I wanna be bad!".
...

The dictionaries seem to have the noun, parts of a shoe, or some other re-vamp, circa 1500's. The verb is what interests me, where is to take advantage of a man('s generosity). Oh my, all those innocent millionaires running around the early 1900's; poor lambs being misled by willy women. Me, break, give!

I wonder if Bram Stokers 1897 novel "Dracula" influenced this word, dare I say it, "resurrection"? Now that would be a very interesting trail to ferret out and prove. Also, the occult was in a major resurgence at the time when this verb and noun was on the rise, perhaps it roots are there too.

Re: vamp

Posted: Fri Jul 26, 2013 4:56 pm
by Perry Lassiter
It's also used in music for a repeated riff, often as a band begins to play. Thus, "the jazz group vamped into an extended arrqngement of the Saints..."

Re: vamp

Posted: Fri Jul 26, 2013 5:35 pm
by Slava
I never knew the shoe or music parts, just the sultry, seductive woman bit.

Vamp has different meanings, with different lineages.

Re: vamp

Posted: Fri Jul 26, 2013 11:54 pm
by Philip Hudson
"She's Hard Hearted Hannah, the vamp of Savannah, GA!"