Etymologically
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stomp

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /stɒmp/[1]
  • US: /stɑmp/[1]

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

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