Vamp
Middle English (denoting the foot of a stocking): shortening of Old French avantpie, from avant ‘before’ + pie ‘foot’. The musical sense of the verb developed from the general sense ‘improvise’.
wiktionary
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, [1] from avant(“in front”) + pié(“foot”). [2]
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. [3]Compare alsoMiddle English vaum-peien(“(uncertain) to repair (footwear) with a new upper or vamp; to fabricate an upper or vamp”). [4]
Clipping of vampire. [5] 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. [6]
Origin uncertain; [7] possibly related to vamp ( etymology 1, above): see the 2008 quotation.
etymonline
vamp (v.)
"extemporize on a piano," 1789, from vamp (n.1) "upper part of a shoe or boot," via verbal sense of "provide a stocking (later a shoe) with a new vamp" (1590s), then "patch up, repair" (compare revamp). Related: Vamped; vamping.
vamp (n.1)
"upper of a shoe or boot," 1650s, earlier "part of a stocking that covers the foot and ankle" (c. 1200), from Anglo-French *vaumpé, from Old French avantpié "vamp of a shoe," from avant "in front" (see avant) + pié "foot," from Latin pes "foot" (from PIE root *ped- "foot").
vamp (n.2)
"seductive woman who exploits men," 1911, short for vampire. First attested use is earlier than the release of the Fox film "A Fool There Was" (January 1915), with sultry Theda Bara in the role of The Vampire. The movie was based on a play of that name that had been on Broadway in 1909 (title and concept from a Kipling poem, "The Vampire," inspired by a Burne-Jones painting). The stage lead seems to have been played by Kathryn Kaelred and Bernice Golden Henderson. At any rate, Bara (born Theodosia Goodman) remains the classic vamp and the word's wide currency is attributable to her performance.
A fool there was and he made his prayer
(Even as you and I!)
To a rag and a bone and a hank of hair
(We called her the woman who did not care)
But the fool, he called her his lady fair
(Even as you and I.)
[Kipling, from "The Vampire"]
