samp

S1A1M3P3
UK/samp/

noun

An article of food consisting of coarse ground maize, or a porridge made from it.

Less commonScrabble 8

Meanings

samp1

nounsamp (countable and uncountable, plural samps)

plural samps

  1. UScountableuncountableAn article of food consisting of coarse ground maize, or a porridge made from it.

    We remained in class until 12.45, and then had a lunch of samp, sour milk and beans, seldom meat.

    1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela, London: Abacus, published 2010, page 44
    5 more examples

    1675, The Captivity of Mary Rowlandson, included in The Portable North American Indian Reader, New York: Penguin Books, 1977, page 341, I asked him to give me a little of his Broth, or Water they [Horses feet] were boiling in; he took a dish, and gave me one spoonful of Samp, and bid me take as much of the Broth as I would.

    The meal, coarse or fine, is then used for samps, mushes, or batters, and cakes, thick or thin, and of many varieties and degrees of wholesomeness.

    1882, The Atlantic Monthly, volume 50, page 549

    'You kids have everything but you don't appreciate it. Mom must cook you beans and samps. Do you hear? Just beans and samps. That's all. Beans and samps.'

    1975, Sheila Roberts, Outside Life's Feast: Short Stories, page 18

    Abigail taught her the use of the samp mortar. Samp was corn broken into coarse grains and boiled as porridge.

    2004, Louise Cabral, A Pageant of Shadows, page 327

    In the area of cuisine, the Xhosa have contributed many corn recipes, most famously samp and beans (umngqusho).

    2005, Fran Osseo-Asare, Food Culture in Sub-Saharan Africa, page 74

sAMP2

nounsAMP (uncountable)
  1. abbreviationuncountableAbbreviation of adenylosuccinic acid.

Samp3

proper nounSamp (plural Samps)

plural Samps

  1. A surname from Polish.

Origin

samp · noun

  1. Massachusettnasamp
  2. Englishsamp

From Massachusett nasamp, nasaump (“softened with water”); compare suppawn.

Full word history & related roots →

Samp · proper noun

  1. PolishSamp
  2. EnglishSamp

Borrowed from Polish Samp. It could also be a hypocoristic form of the personal name Samson.

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

samp. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/samp

MLA

“samp.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/samp. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “samp,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/samp.

Source: samp on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.