💃 A seductive woman 😏 To act seductively ✨ To update 🎶 A repeated phrase 👞 Front of a shoe 🪡 To repair a shoe

to vamp

9.9

To replace the front part of a shoe with new leather

verb
/væmp/

Informal

: reponer la capellada

The cobbler offered to vamp my worn-out shoes with new leather fronts.

Examples

If you want to restore these boots, you'll need to vamp them rather than just clean them.
Some old-fashioned shoe styles are best preserved by vamping instead of replacing the whole shoe.
She decided to vamp her old shoes.
The cobbler vamped the heels of my boots.
To make my shoes look new again, I decided to vamp them with a stylish leather.
After years of wear, she took her favorite heels to the cobbler to have him vamp them.
He learned how to vamp old sneakers to give them a fresh and modern appearance.

Synonyms

to vamp up

vsto vamp

Informal

1 8.1

To make something more attractive by adding new parts

is limited to replacing the upper part of a shoe rather than general updates

Phrasal Verbs

to vamp up

Informal

1 8.7

To quickly make up a story or plan to explain something

to vamp up

Informal

1 8.1

To make something more attractive by adding new parts

Surface Forms

vamp infinitive

vamped past

vamped past participle

vamping present participle

vamps third person singular

Etymology

Vamp in shoemaking means to put a new vamp, or a new 'front', on a shoe, and the verb comes from that noun. So to vamp a shoe is to replace its front piece with new leather.