Etymologically
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revamp

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ɹiːˈvæmp/[1]
  • US: /ɹiˈvæmp/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English re- + vamp (“to patch up, repair”).[2][3][4][5][6] Etymonline notes that the prefix is redundant, and suggests that the verb was built on the noun vamp, the upper of a shoe, or is an intensive form of the verb;[6] the OED compares the earlier verb new-vamp, which Etymonline dates to the 1630s.[2][6] The verb vamp meant to give a stocking, and later a shoe, a new vamp (mid-15th century), and so to patch up or make look new (1630s).[6][7] The noun is from Anglo-Norman vampe, a shortening of Old French avantpié (“the front of the foot”), from avant (“before”) and pié (“foot”), from Latin pēs (“foot”).[6][3][2][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

To give something a new and improved form; to renovate or revise: 1803, in Miller's Brief Retrospect of the 18th Century.[2][4] Barnhart and Etymonline date it to 1850,[3][6] and Barnhart and Dictionary.com label it American.[3][8]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline glosses the 1850 use as "to mend or patch up again", and notes that the modern use is mostly figurative.[6] Merriam-Webster gives the repair of an old house and the revision of a play to bring it up to date as typical uses.[4] The noun, an act or result of revamping, is recorded from 1852,[2] later than the noun revamping;[2] the Shorter Oxford dates it to the late 19th century.[5]

Timeline

  • 1803 – to renovate, overhaul, revise.[2][4] Barnhart and Etymonline date the verb to 1850.[3][6]
  • 1852 – noun, a renovation or revision.[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To renovate, overhaul or give a new and better form to: The owners revamped the old cinema as a music venue.[9][4][2]
  2. To revise a text, play or plan, bringing it up to date: They revamped the menu for summer.[4][2]

Noun

  1. An act of revamping, or the result; a renovation or revision.[9][2][5]

Word family

  • revampment
  • revamper

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  9. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins