Four-letter Words: U and V

Except for ugly, upon, user, and undo, most of the four-letter words beginning with "u" have never graced my blog; no, most have never so much as entered my vocabulary.  Of the examples given, I do not like two of them, and the other two seem a bit pedestrian.

So in honor of my hair-sylist spouse, I have chosen:

updo.

The word hardly needs a definition.  It is almost obvious that an updo would be a style in which the hair is combed upward away from the face.  While it has been stylish, both for men and women, in the past, I think it has fallen into disfavor.  But despair not--  what goes around comes around.

"Kookie, Kookie, lend me your comb."

*****

 Four-letter "v" word for this July morning is:

vamp.

Vamp is a multipurpose word having several distinctly different meanings.   The first thing to cross my mind when I hear the word is Ella Fitzgerald singing "Hard hearted Hannah, the vamp of Savannah, the meanest gal in town. . .   she'd pour water on a drownin' man."  The word here is used to indicate

vamp (n.) a woman who uses feminine wiles seductively.

The word can be used as a verb:

vamp (v.) to seduce, esp. to gain an advantage.

I had a great uncle who was a cobbler and a businessman whose skill made his business very successful.  A cobbler is a shoemaker.  Here we encounter our word as

vamp (n.) the part of the shoe that covers the instep and toes.

Another usage of the word occurs in the music world:

vamp (v.) to accompany by improvisation.

Thus enough space has been devoted to our four-letter "v" word.