vamp

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. The upper part of a boot or shoe covering the instep and sometimes extending over the toe.
2. n. Something patched up or refurbished.
3. n. Something rehashed, as a book based on old material.
4. n. Music An improvised accompaniment.
5. v. To provide (a shoe) with a new vamp.
6. v. To patch up (something old); refurbish.
7. v. To put together; fabricate or improvise: With no hard news available about the summit meeting, the reporters vamped up questions based only on rumor.
8. v. Music To improvise (an accompaniment, for example) for a solo.
9. v. Music To improvise simple accompaniment or variation of a tune.
10. n. A woman who uses her sex appeal to entrap and exploit men.
11. v. To seduce or exploit (someone) in the manner of a vamp.
12. v. To play the part of a vamp.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. That part of the upper leather of a boot or shoe which is in front of the seam at the ankle. See cut under boot.
2. n. Any piece or patch intended to give an old thing a new appearance; a piece added for appearance' sake. See the verb.
3. n. A protection formerly worn for the ankle and leg, and perhaps for the foot also. It seems to have been in most cases a sort of gaiter or spatterdash.
4. n. In music, an improvised accompaniment.
5. To furnish with a new vamp or upper leather, as a shoe or boot.
6. To repair; furbish up; give an appearance of newness to.
7. In music, to improvise an accompaniment to.
8. To improvise musical accompaniments.
9. To travel; proceed; move forward.

Wiktionary

1. n. Something added to give an old thing a new appearance; a patch.
2. n. Something patched up, pieced together, improvised, or refurbished.
3. n. An activity or speech intended to fill time or stall.
4. n. A volunteer fire fighter.
5. v. shoemaking To attach a vamp.
6. v. To walk.
7. v. To patch, repair, or refurbish.
8. v. to put together, improvise, or fabricate.
9. v. music To perform a vamp; to perform a repeated, often improvised accompaniment, e.g. under dialogue or awaiting the readiness of a soloist.
10. v. To stall or delay, as for an audience.
11. v. transitive To seduce or exploit someone.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. v. obsolete To advance; to travel.
2. n. The part of a boot or shoe above the sole and welt, and in front of the ankle seam; an upper.
3. n. Any piece added to an old thing to give it a new appearance. See Vamp, v. t.
4. n. (Music) A usually improvized Jazz accompaniment, consisting of simple chords in sucession.
5. n. A woman who seduces men with her charm and wiles, in order to exploit them.
6. v. To provide, as a shoe, with new upper leather; hence, to to piece, as any old thing, with a new part; to repair; to patch; -- often followed by up.
7. v. To create with little skill; to concoct; to invent; -- usually with up.
8. v. To seduce (a man) sexually for purpose of exploitation.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. an improvised musical accompaniment
2. v. act seductively with (someone)
3. v. make up
4. v. provide (a shoe) with a new vamp
5. v. piece (something old) with a new part
6. n. piece of leather forming the front part of the upper of a shoe
7. n. a seductive woman who uses her sex appeal to exploit men