vamp
n.a short, catchy part of a song that repeats to make it sound exciting. It is often used in pop or rock music to build up the energy before the main part of the song.
n.a short, repetitive musical passage or section designed to create a sense of anticipation or excitement. Common in popular and rock music to bridge the gap between the intro and the main verse.
“The song has a great vamp that gets you moving.”
“The band spent several minutes on stage playing a hypnotic vamp before finally launching into the first verse.”
“While the lyrics are relatively simple, the instrumental vamp provides a rhythmic foundation that allows the lead vocalist to experiment with vocal improvisation.”
“I was like, ‘I’m not gonna be able to say that in 30 seconds,’ so I went up and sort of vamped, and made fun of it.” It turned out he was funny.”
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, from avant (“in front”) + pié (“foot”). 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. Compare also Middle English vaum-peien (“(uncertain) to repair (footwear) with a new upper or vamp; to fabricate an upper or vamp”).
Clipping of vampire. 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.
Uncertain; possibly related to vamp (etymology 1, above): see the 2008 quotation.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.