stomp

Etymology

It is from English a dialectal variant of stamp, first recorded in American English.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7][8]} The OED takes it as a variant of the verb in its senses of treading and striking with the foot.^[5] Stamp goes back to Middle English stampen (“to pound, mash, crush”) and Old English stempan (“to pound in a mortar”), from Proto-Germanic *stamp-, the source also of Old Norse stappa, Middle Dutch stampen and German stampfen (“to stamp with the foot, pound”),^[2][5] and probably from a nasalized form of Proto-Indo-European *stebh- (“to support, place firmly”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Intransitive, to tread or stamp heavily: 1803, in J. Davis's Travels in the United States,^[5][9][4] also figuratively.^[5] Etymonline gives 1803 too, and Dictionary.com dates the word to 1820–30.^[2][10]

Semantic evolution

The word began as an American dialect form of stamp,^[2][7][6] and the noun stomping, heavy treading, is recorded from 1819.^[4] Stompers for big heavy shoes is found by 1899, and stomping ground, one's own territory, by 1854, from animals.^[2] In the early 20th century jazz took the word up: a stomp was a lively dance with heavy stamping, or a tune for one, from 1912,^[5][2][4] then a party with lively dancing, from 1926;^[5] the verb meant to dance or play a stomp, and to stomp off was to beat out the tempo with one's foot to start a band.^[5] The transitive sense, to trample on a person, is recorded from 1934,^[5] and in American slang stomp came to mean to beat up or to defeat.^[11] Since 1971 the noun has also meant a heavy, tramping walk.^[5][4] Browning used stomp in 1845 for the sake of a rhyme, for stump or stamp; the OED enters that use separately.^[5]

Timeline

• 1803 – intransitive verb, to tread or stamp heavily.^[5][9][4]
• 1819 – stomping, heavy treading.^[4]
• 1854 – stomping ground, one's own territory.^[2]
• 1899 – stompers, big heavy shoes.^[2]
• 1912 – noun, a lively jazz dance with heavy stamping, or a tune for it.^[5][2][4]
• 1916 – transitive, to stamp on something.^[5]
• 1925 – stomp off, to beat the tempo to start a jazz band.^[5]
• 1926 – a party with lively dancing.^[5]
• 1934 – to trample on a person.^[5]
• 1936 – stomp out, to stamp out, chiefly figuratively.^[5]
• 1944 – slang, a foot.^[11]
• 1971 – a heavy, tramping walk.^[5][4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To walk with heavy, noisy steps, or to stamp the feet, often in anger: He stomped out of the meeting.^[8][9][5]
2. To tread heavily on something; to trample: The children stomped on the empty cans.^[9][5][7]
3. To dance a stomp.^[9][5]
4. (slang, chiefly US) To beat up or soundly defeat someone.^[11][5]

Noun

1. A jazz dance marked by heavy stamping.^[9][8][5]
2. Music for such a dance, with a strong, repeated rhythm.^[9][5]
3. A heavy stamping step, or a heavy, tramping walk.^[5][4]
4. A lively dancing party.^[5][7]
5. A counterclockwise line dance of the Woodland peoples of North America, with singing in turn.^[9]

Word family

• stomper

Related words

• stamp
• stump
• stampede

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
11. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com