▪ I. † camp, n.1 Obs. exc. dial.
Also 1–3 comp, 3 komp, 4 kamp.
[OE. camp, cǫmp, corresp. to OFris. camp, cǫmp, (MDu. camp, Du. kamp), MLG. kamp, OHG. champf (MHG. and Ger. kampf), combat, all masc., ON. kapp (pp from mp) neuter, (Da. and Sw. kamp) contest, keenness, vehemence. WGer. or OTeut. *kampo-z was presumably an early Germanic adoption of L. camp-us in its transferred sense ‘field of contest or combat’, also ‘duel, fight, battle, war’; see camp n.2 The word was thoroughly at home in WGer., and gave origin to numerous derivatives, particularly the vb. kampjon; see kemp v. and cf. kemp n.:—OE. cęmpa, WGer. kampjo-n = late L. campion-em champion. In ME. the word survived longest in the north, esp. as an archaism of alliterative verse.
(Kluge and others, however, claim the word as native Teutonic, mainly on the ground of the improbability that the Germans who had so many native words to designate war, should adopt a foreign designation; but they offer no satisfactory account of its etymology.)]
† 1. Martial contest, combat, fight, battle, war.
| Beowulf 5003 In campe ᵹecrong cumbles hyrde. c 1000 Riddles vii. 2 (Gr.) Mec ᵹesette · Crist to compe. c 1205 Lay. 4215 Þer heo weren on kompen [1275 fihte]. Ibid. 4347 Þu eært muchele betere cniht to halden comp [1275 werre] and ifiht. Ibid. 14024 Þer wes feht swiðe strong comp swiðe sturne. ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 3702 Alle þe kene mene of kampe, knyghtes and oþer. |
2. Hence camp-ball: An ancient form of football in which large numbers engaged on both sides. See camp v.1 3, and camping vbl. n.1
| c 1600 Day Begg. Bedn. Gr. in Strutt Sports & Past. ii. iii, I am Tom Stroud of Hurling, I'll play a gole at camp-ball. 1840 Fighting camp [see camping vbl. n.1]. 1847–78 Halliwell, Camp, an ancient athletic game of ball formerly in vogue in the Eastern Counties. 1887 Illust. Lond. News 26 Feb. /1 The game in very ancient times was not so properly called football as camp-ball. 1887 Jessopp Arcady 236 Camp-ball..used to be a very favourite game in my parish some fifty years ago, and it was, by all accounts, a very rough one—something like football. |
▪ II. camp, n.2
(kæmp)
Also 6–7 campe.
[a. F. camp (16th c. in Littré) in same sense: cf. It., Sp., Pg. campo ‘camp’, orig. ‘field’, and F. champ, Pr. camp, field, field of tournament, field of battle:—L. camp-us level field, spec. the Campus Martius at Rome, the place for games, athletic practice, military drills, etc., whence ‘field of contest or combat’, ‘field of battle’. Although camp was the Norman form of champ, no trace of it appears in ME., which had only champ from central OF., in the senses of ‘field of duel or tournament’ and heraldic ‘field’. Camp was introduced early in the 16th c., from contemporary Fr. and with the sense castra, but was also at first used to render L. campus in other senses, as well as occasionally in the sense of the earlier champ ‘field of combat’.
Littré supposed that the 16th century French use of camp was merely the literary adoption of the Picard form in a special sense; but evidently it was an adaptation of It. (or ? Sp.) campo, in a sense not used with F. champ.]
I. In the military sense.
1. The place where an army or body of troops is lodged in tents or other temporary means of shelter, with or without intrenchments. In common modern use the collection of tents, huts, and other equipments is the chief notion, the site being the ‘camping-ground’; but as used of ancient works, Roman, British, Danish, etc., it usually means the intrenched and fortified site, within which an army lodged or defended itself; a modern intrenched camp includes both notions. The name is also given to a permanent station for the reception of troops, in order that they may be trained in manœuvring in large bodies, and in campaigning duties generally, as the camps at Aldershot, Shorncliffe camp, camp of Chalons.
| 1528 Sir Gr. de Cassalis, etc. (The King's Ambassadors with the Pope) in Strype Eccl. Mem. I. ii. xxiii. 61 It is very certain, that the Spanyards have refused batel, and conveyed themself out of ther camp neerer unto Naples in the night. 1560 Bible (Genev.) 2 Kings vii. 7 They left their tentes and their horses and their asses, euen the campe as it was, and fledde for their liues. 1593 Shakes. Lucr. Argt. 13 Sextus Tarquinius..departed with the rest back to the camp. 1683 Burnet tr. More's Utopia 170 They fortify their Camps well, with a deep and large Trench. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 540 The Youth of Rome..pitch their sudden Camp before the Foe. 1727–51 Chambers Cycl. s.v., Rhoe, describing the great Mogul's camp, says, it is twenty English miles round. 1856 Emerson Eng. Traits v. Ability Wks. (Bohn) II. 33 He disembarked his legions, erected his camps and towers. 1870 F. Wilson Ch. Lindisf. 70 A fine ancient British camp, upon a neighbouring hill-top. |
2. a. A body of troops encamping and moving together; an army on a campaign. (In earlier Eng. the host.)
| a 1584 Vicary Englishm. Treas. 59 In anno 1551, when the said citie was taken and destroyed by the campe of Charles the first. c 1590 Marlowe Massacr. Paris ii. vi, Dismiss thy camp. 1598 R. Grenewey Tacitus' Ann. iv. vi. 97 This fleeting enemy was not to bee pursued with a maine campe. 1611 Bible 1 Sam. iv. 7 God is come into the campe [Coverd. hoost, Genev. hoste]. 1706 Farquhar Recruit. Off. ii. i, I hope you have more honour than to quit the service, and she more prudence than to follow the Camp. 1751 Johnson Rambl. No. 144 ¶4 Multitudes follow the camp only for want of employment. 1839 Thirlwall Greece III. 451 The army was formed in a hollow square, inclosing the baggage and the followers of the camp. |
b. flying camp, camp-volant: ‘a little army of horse and foot, that keeps the field, and is continually in motion’ (Phillips 1696–1706). See also quot. 1699. ? Obs.
| 1577 Holinshed Chron. III. 1040/2 Who..with a campe volant did what he could to stop the Englishmen within Hadington from vittels. 1726 De Foe Hist. Devil (1822) 299 Some of his camp-volent are always present. 1611 Cotgr., Camp volant, a flying campe, a campe of light-horsemen for ordinarie roades. 1699 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Flying-Camps, Beggers plying in Bodies at Funerals. 1727–51 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Camp, Flying Camp is a strong body of horse or dragoons. |
c. camp-royal: the main or chief body of an army with the commander-in-chief; a great body of troops; hence fig. a great number, a host.
| 1593 Nashe Christ's T. 31 b, False witnesses they had in pay a Campe royal. 1601 Dent Pathw. Heauen 216 A Campe-royall, euen forty thousand strong. 1641 Brome Jov. Crew ii. Wks. 1873 III. 377 This Doublet..might serve to furnish a Camp Royal of us. |
3. Used for: The scene of military service; military service, the military life in general.
| 1725 Ramsay Gentle Sheph. iii. iv, I must..my Patrick soon remove To Courts and camps that may his soul improve. 1799 Lamb Corr. lxxi. (1870) 194 The world, the camp and the university have spoilt him among them. 1805 Scott Last Minstr. iii. xv, Love rules the court, the camp, the grove. 1827 Keble Chr. Y. 1 Advent x, Through court and camp he holds his heavenward course serene. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. 204 His knowledge of courts and camps was such as few of his countrymen possessed. |
II. transf. from the military sense.
4. a. The temporary quarters, formed by tents, vehicles, or other portable or improvised means of shelter, occupied by a body of nomads or men on the march, by travellers, gipsies, companies of sportsmen, lumbermen, field-preachers and their audiences, or parties ‘camping out’; an encampment.
Connected with sense 1 by intimate gradations, e.g. the camp of the Israelites, or of North American Indians.
| 1560 Bible (Genev.) Ex. xvi. 13 At euen the quailes came and couered the campe [Vulg. castra, Coverd. tentes]. 1823 F. Cooper Pioneer xx, The sugar-boiler, who was busy in his ‘camp’. 1864 W. Campbell My Indian Jrnl. Contents..Sport at Dharwar..A Civilian's Camp..Bison-Shooting, etc. 1886 F. H. H. Guillemard Cruise of Marchesa I. 95 It is the hunter's rule to see that the fire is extinguished..before breaking camp. |
b. loosely. ‘Quarters.’
| 1747 H. Walpole Corr. (1837) I. 108, I am got into a new camp and have left my tub at Windsor. |
c. Austral. and N.Z. A resting or assembly place (of sheep or cattle). Also attrib.
| 1891 D. Ferguson Bush Life xxiv. 170 A long string of lambs and ewes..all making off as fast as they could for their camp. 1946 F. Davison Dusty x. 107 [The dog]..startled a few sheep huddled in camp. 1950 N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. Aug. 141 Variegated thistle established on a stock camp site under a tree. |
d. Quarters for the accommodation of detained or interned persons, as concentration camp.
| 1917 Sphere 10 Feb. 128 Several copies have reached England of The Ruhleben Camp Magazine issued by the prisoners. Ibid., The Lancashire and Cheshire civilians—who number over 500—in the camp [in Germany]. Ibid., A parody of The Mikado..which jovial play seems to have been performed in the internment camp. |
e. S. Afr. [ad. Afrikaans kamp.] A fenced-in portion of a farm.
| 1877 Queenstown Free Press 25 Sept. (Pettman), He purchased three birds to establish a camp at Somerset East in 1853. 1883 O. Schreiner Story Afr. Farm I. i. 5 The..Englishman, whose grave lay away beyond the ostrich-camps. 1896 R. Wallace Farm. Ind. Cape Col. xi. 223 Ostriches require to be enclosed in camps. 1947 H. C. Bosman Mafeking Road 60 The wire he had borrowed from me for his new sheep-camp. |
5. An encamping; a ‘camping out’.
In Australia the regular term for an expedition or excursion for fishing, shooting, etc., in which the party camps out.
| 1865 Intell. Observ. No. 37. 15 A previous night's camp near the spot. 1880 Inglis Austral. Cousins 233 We're going to have a regular camp; we..intend going to Port Hocking to have some shooting, fishing, and general diversion. 1886 Pall Mall G. 3 Aug. 13/2 Cadet corps (now out for a week's camp). |
6. a. The whole company or body of persons encamped together, as surveyors, lumbermen, sportsmen, etc.; a company of nomads.
| 1750 Beawes Lex Mercat. 797 The Chan of the Western Moungales Camp, tributary to China. 1864 in Webster. |
b. A local division or lodge of a society or league. U.S.
| 1880 Tourgée Fool's Err. ii. v. 415 Sometimes several ‘camps’ or ‘dens’ [of the Ku-Klux] would, independently of each other, direct a warning to be sent to the same individual. 1904 Harben Georgians 132 The general is invited to address nearly all the veteran camps over the State when the badges of honor are presented once a year. |
III. fig. from the military sense.
7. A ‘host’ or ‘army’ of arguments, facts, etc.
| 1566 Painter Pal. Pleas. Ded., Titus Liuius in whom is contayned a large campe of noble facts and exploites atchieued by valiaunt personages. 1871 E. F. Burr Ad Fidem xiv. 282 The main camp of allegations. |
8. a. A body of adherents of a militant doctrine, or theory. So to have a foot in both camps, to belong to or sympathize with two opposite groups, factions, etc. b. The position in which ideas or beliefs are intrenched and strongly defended.
| 1871 Morley Voltaire (1886) 23 No one who has marched ever so short a way out of the great camp of old ideas. 1885 Clodd Myths & Dr. ii. vii. 182 Matters still dividing philosophers into opposite camps. 1933 J. G. Cozzens Cure of Flesh ii. iii. 157 You never know when they may pull a fast one on you. I think you're in the wrong camp, George. 1935 W. Empson Versions of Pastoral vi. 217 The divine Polly has a foot in both camps. 1958 Listener 6 Nov. 715/1 The world is in fact divided into two camps, Communist and anti-Communist, with a number of uncommitted nations standing on the sidelines. |
IV. In sense of ME. champ.
† 9. The field of combat, the lists. Obs. rare—1.
| 1525 Ld. Berners Froiss. II. clxi. [clvii.] 446 Howe he durste..do armes with hym in campe or iustes mortall. |
V. In various senses of L. campus.
† 10. Campe of Mars, Camp Mart: = Campus Martius. Obs.
| 1534 Ld. Berners Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546) F viij, The emperour goynge to the campe of Mars. 1647 R. Stapylton Juvenal 109 Exercising and training like the tyrones or young souldiers in Camp Mart. |
† 11. Plain, level surface, field. watery camp (cæruleus campus, campus latus aquarum): the surface of the sea. Obs.
| 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas i. iii. (1641) 29/1 Whereby w'are stor'd with Truchman, Guide & Lamp, To search all corners of the watery Camp. |
† 12. Field of inquiry; field of discussion or debate, subject of debate. Obs.
| 1538 Leland Itin. I. p. xxi, I have more exspatiatid yn this Campe then they did. c 1538 Starkey England iv. 128 Wherfor I wyl not entur into that Camp. |
‖ VI. 13. = Spanish campo: see quot.
| 1877 Athenæum 1 Dec. 703/2 The Falkland Island word for expanses of bog land, ‘camp,’ is not derived from the French champ..but from the Spanish campo. |
† 14. (A sense of F. camp: see quot.) Obs. rare—0.
| 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp., Camp, is also used among the Siamese and East-Indians, for a quarter of a town assigned to foreigners, wherein to carry on their commerce. In these camps, each nation forms itself a kind of city apart, in which their store houses and shops are, and the factors and their families reside. [So in London Encycl. 1829.] |
VII. attrib. and Comb. a. Simple, as camp-boy, camp-craft, camp-diseases, camp-equipage, camp-equipment, camp-fare, camp-fashion, camp-frock, camp-guide, camp-hut, camp-keeper, camp-kettle, camp-kit, camp-language, camp-life, camp-mill, camp-money, camp-plot, camp-squire, camp-stove, etc.
| 1813 Wellington in Gurw. Disp. XI. 27 Stores commonly called *camp equipments. |
| 1820 T. Mitchell Aristoph. I. 121 The sack that holds our coarse *camp-fare. |
| 1886 Pall Mall G. 28 July 2/1 Seated *camp-fashion on boxes. |
| a 1849 J. C. Mangan Poems (1859) 338 In an uniform of blue and white And a grey *camp-frock he is dressed. |
| 1828–40 Tytler Hist. Scot. (1864) I. 153 The servants who remained in the *camp-huts. |
| 1805 Naval Chron. XIV. 35 Bailing it out with a *camp-kettle. 1850 Alison Hist. Europe XI. lxxvi. §39. 447 The ponderous iron camp-kettles hitherto used by the soldiers had been exchanged for lighter ones. |
| 1861 Max Müller Sc. Lang. 303 Urdu-zeban, *camp-language, is the proper name of Hindustani. |
| 1828 Macaulay Hallam, Ess. (1854) I. 72 The Judges would have given as strong a decision in favour of *camp-money as they gave in favour of ship-money. |
| 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. i. 83 Maximus, a base *Campe-Squire. |
b. Special comb., as camp-bed, -bedstead, a bed or bedstead for use in field-service; hence spec. a bedstead made to fold up within a narrow space; a trestle bedstead; camp-chair, a form of folding chair; † camp-chaplain, an army chaplain; camp-colour, a flag or colour used in marking out and arranging the camping-ground for a body of troops; hence camp colour-man (see quot.); camp-disease, -duty (see quots.); camp-fever, a name given to fevers of an epidemical character occurring in camps, chiefly typhus; camp-fire, a fire lit in a camp or encampment; hence a military social gathering in a garrison, etc.; spec. in U.S. a re-union of members of one or more clubs, ‘posts’, of the ‘Grand Army of the Republic’, a society of ex-volunteers; camp-flux, -furniture (see quots.); camp-ground U.S., (a) the site of a camp-meeting; (b) a camping-ground; camp-marshal = F. maréchal de camp, see camp-master; camp-muster Austral. (see quot.); camp-oven Austral. and N.Z. (see quot. 1933); camp-paper, a kind of copying paper, like carbon paper; camp-party, a party forming a camp, a camping-out party; camp-seat, -stool, a light portable folding stool; camp-vinegar, a preparation made by mixing vinegar with Cayenne pepper, soy, walnut-ketchup, anchovies, and garlic, and afterwards straining it. Also camp-follower, -master, -meeting.
| 1690 Lond. Gaz. No. 2529/4 One large Tent fit for a Colonel, with Chairs and *Camp-Beds. |
| 1825 Hone Every-day Bk. I. 940 A *camp-bedstead, of planks resting on bars of iron. |
| 1885 Harper's Mag. Mar. 631/1 Winthrop found a *camp chair. |
| 1679–88 Secr. Serv. Money Chas. & Jas. (1851) 196 One of the *camp chaplains..on his allowance of 8s. per diem. |
| 1785 Ray in Phil. Trans. LXXV. 422 By arranging *camp colours in the intervals. |
| 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v., The *camp colour-men, are drawn a man out of a company. 1853 Stocqueler Mil. Encycl., Camp Colour men, soldiers whose business it is to assist in marking out the lines of an encampment, etc.; to carry the camp colours to the field, on days of exercise, and fix them, for the purpose of enabling the troops to take up correct points in marching, etc. |
| 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v., The *camp disease, morbus castrensis, absolutely so called, is a malignant fever. Dudley Digges died of the camp disease which raged in the garrison at Oxford, in 1643. |
| Ibid., *Camp Duty, in its utmost extent, includes every part of the service performed by the troops during the campaign. But in a more particular sense, denotes the guards ordinary and extraordinary kept in camps. |
| Ibid. s.v. Camp, The *camp fever is the same with what is otherwise called the Hungarian fever, and bears a near affinity to the petechial fever. |
| 1837 Thirlwall Greece IV. xxx. 121 Their *campfires first announced their presence. 1884 Boston (Mass.) Jrnl. 6 Sept., Edwin-Humphrey Post, No. 104, G.A.R., of this town celebrated its fifteenth anniversary by a camp-fire Friday evening. 1871 Forbes War France & G. 283 (Hoppe) During peace time, there is a camp-fire—or gathering equivalent to it—once a week in every Prussian Regiment. |
| 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp., *Camp Flux, a name frequently given to the dysentery. |
| 1857 Simmonds Dict. Trade, *Camp-furniture, articles of cabinet work made compact, light, and portable, so as to be easily folded and transported; such as camp-stools, camp-bedsteads, tables, etc. |
| 1806 L. Dow Travels II. 94, I viewed the *Camp-ground, and preparations making for the meeting. 1816 U. Brown Jrnl. in Maryland Hist. Mag. XI. 360 Their Pilot..never could find their camp ground. 1895 Outing (U.S.) Dec. 254/2 The soil of the camp-ground is light and sandy. 1968 North Carolina Travelbk. 1968–69 20/2 Easily accessible public camp grounds, picnic areas, small lakes, fishing streams. |
| 1670 Cotton Espernon i. iv. 152 The Count de Suze, Bezaudun, *Camp-Mareschal. 1707 Lond. Gaz. No. 4392/2 The Count Louvignies, a Camp-Marshal to the Spanish Forces. |
| 1933 Bulletin (Sydney) 9 Aug. 21/3 The *camp muster was an annual event in the old days before general fencing, when every station had a general muster on the main cattle camps, and men from all the stations came along to identify and cut out their own cattle. |
| 1846 H. Weekes Jrnl. 25 Feb. in Rutherford & Skinner New Plymouth Settlement (1940) i. vii. 118 Our cooking was now an open-air affair..with a *camp-oven and gypsy kettles. 1900 H. Lawson On Track (1945) 62 There was a camp-oven with a leg of mutton and potatoes sizzling in it on the hearth. 1933 L. G. D. Acland in Press (Christchurch, N.Z.) 23 Sept. 13/7 Camp oven, an iron pot with three short legs and a flat top, so that it can be used to boil, bake, or fry in. 1968 K. Weatherly Roo Shooter 21 There's a roast leg in the camp oven. |
| c 1790 J. Imison Sch. Art II. 31 To make *Camp Paper, with which a Person may write or draw without Pen, Ink, or Pencil. |
| 1794 R. Wellford Diary 29 Sept. in William & Mary College Q. (1903) XI. 5 To have three Canvass *Camp stools made directly, which will serve for seats in the day, & a bedstead at Night. 1817 Jane Austen Sanditon (1954) iv. 383 Two Females..with their books & camp stools. 1831 Peacock Crotchet Cast. 296 Sitting on a campstool with a portfolio on his knee. 1873 Black Pr. Thule vi. 87 He folded up and shouldered his camp-stool. |
▪ III. camp, n.3 dial.
[Of uncertain origin and history.]
A conical or ridge-shaped heap of potatoes or turnips, in the open air, covered with straw and earth, for winter storage; called also a bury, pie, or pit. Cf. also clamp.
| 1790 Marshall Midl. Counties (E.D.S.) Camp, a hoard of potatoes, turneps, etc. 1881 Leicester Gloss. (E.D.S.) Camp, ‘bury’, a pit lined with straw in which potatoes are placed, and then earthed over so as to form a mound. |
Hence camp-cellar, a temporary cellar made of clay heaped up.
| 1713 Lond. & Countr. Brew. ii. (1743) 110 This Salt, which is of a hot moist Nature, is that with which they make their Camp-cellars, by mixing it with Clay, to keep their Wine and other Liquors in. |
▪ IV. † camp, n.4 Obs. rare—1.
[a. ON. kamp-r beard, moustache.]
pl. Whiskers (of a cat); stout bristly hairs: cf. kemp n.
| c 1450 Henryson Mor. Fab. 47 Hee [the Cat] lay so still, the Myce were not affeird..Some tirled at the Campes of his beird. |
▪ V. † camp, v.1 Obs. exc. dial.
[OE. campian, cǫmpian, f. camp fight: a parallel formation to Du. kampen:—WGer. type *kampôjan. The other langs. have forms from WGer. *kampjan, viz. MDu. kempen, OHG. chamfen, chemfan, MHG. kemphen, kempfen, Ger. kämpfen; also Icel. kęppa (:—*kampja), Sw. kämpa, Da. kæmpe, whence north. Eng. kemp.]
1. intr. To fight; to contend in battle. Cf. kemp.
(The rare 16th c. instance, may belong to camp v.2)
| c 1000 Guthlac 316 (Gr.) Sceal oretta a..gode compian. [? a 1400 Morte Arth. 2634 There es no kynge undire Criste may kempe with hym one!] 1562 Leigh Armorie (1597) 61 Aristotle affirmeth that Rauens will gather together on sides, and campe and fight for victorie. |
2. a. To contend in athletic contests; also trans., as in to camp the bar. Obs. or dial.
| 1774–6 J. Bryant Mythol. (T.) In our island, the exhibition of those manly sports in vogue among country people is called camping; and the enclosures for that purpose, where they wrestle and contend, are called camping closes. 1856 R. Vaughan Mystics (1860) I. vi. viii. 262 Those three tall fellows..fonder of sword-play, wrestling, and camping the bar, than of churchmen or church-going. |
b. To strive with others in doing anything, e.g. drinking. Cf. kemp v.
| 1587 J. Melvill Diary (1842) 256 A banquet of wat and dry confectiones, with all sortes of wyne wharat his Majestie camped verie mirrelie a guid whyll. |
c. trans. To excel or surpass in a contest. Austral.
| a 1882 H. C. Kendall Poems (1886) 207 At punching oxen, you may guess There's nothing out can ‘camp’ him. |
3. esp. To contend at camp-ball, to play a football match. Cf. camping vbl. n.1
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 60 Campyn, pedipilo. 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 60 Get campers a ball to campe therewithall Ibid. 64 In medow or pasture (to growe the more fine) let campers be camping in any of thine. a 1684 Sir T. Browne Tract viii. Wks. 1836 IV. 205 Words..of common use in Norfolk..as..kamp. 1691 Ray S. & E.C. Wds. (E.D.S.) Camp, to play at Football. This word..extends over Essex, as well as Norfolk and Suffolk. 1880 Standard 29 Dec. 6/2 Another field, called Camping Close, on which the inhabitants of Haverill, in Essex, used to Camp. |
4. intr. To wrangle, scold. Cf. cample.
| 1606 Wily Beguiled in Hazl. Dodsley IX. 251 She'll camp, I warrant you. Oh she has a tongue! 1642 [see camping ppl. a.1]. |
5. trans. To kick (a person) like a foot-ball.
| 1567 Drant Horace' Epist. ii. ii. H vij, Lest euen younge folke, seinge you drinke..Do make of you mere mockinge stockes and campe you with theire feete. |
▪ VI. camp, v.2
(kæmp)
[a. F. campe-r, f. camp camp n.2]
1. a. intr. To live or remain in a camp; to form or pitch one's camp; to encamp.
| 1543 Foray Fr. Country in Chron. Calais (Camd.) 211 The hole oste departed owte of Callyes..and campid the same night without the walles of the towne in the feldes. 1556 J. Heywood Spider & F. lxvi. ad fin., At retret of trompet, they retyred a meyne, Where they before had campt. 1580 North Plutarch 152 (R.) Fabius camped always in the strong and high places of the mountains. 1611 Bible Ex. xix. 2 There Israel camped before the mount. 1808 J. Barlow Columb. iii. 533 To meet the expected war, Camps on the confines of an eastern plain. 1850 Blackie æschylus I. 51 He Was camping far at Ilium. |
b. With down. lit. and fig. U.S.
| 1781 T. Johnson Jrnl. 8 Mar. in G. Powers Hist. Sketches Coos (1841) 197 Camped down on the River Lamoille this night. 1850 W. Colton 3 Years Calif. 310, I have seen this savan camp down and snore soundly through the night. 1869 L. M. Alcott Lit. Women (1870) II. vii. 100 I'll be hanged if I don't make them camp down before her table afterward. a 1888 Spirit of Times (Farmer), They..camped down a smart piece off the trail. |
2. a. To sojourn or remain in a tent, pitch one's tent; also famil. to take up one's quarters, lodge.
| 1611 Bible Nahum iii. 17 The great grashoppers which campe in the hedges in the cold day. 1651 C. Cartwright Cert. Relig. i. 125 Bring it to the place, where they camped. 1857 Kingsley Two Y. Ago I. 106 Don't..ask me to come up and camp with you. 1859 Thackeray Virgin. vi. 48 The messenger from Virginia..camping at night in the snow by the forest fires. 1883 Gilmour Mongols xxvi. 307 A great, tall, blustering Mongol..advised me to camp beside him. |
b. to camp out: to lodge in the open in a camp. Also transf. and fig.
| 1748 Washington Jrnl. 18 Mar. in Writ. (1889) I. 3 We camped out in ye field this night. 1835 A. B. Longstreet Georgia Scenes 9 The old gentleman and his lady had consented to camp out for a day. 1837 H. Martineau Soc. in Amer. (1839) I. 294 Others besides emigrants camp out in the woods. 1853 Mrs. C. Clacy Lady's Visit to Gold Diggings iii. 33 We..determined to ‘camp out’ as much as possible. 1867 Smiles Huguenots Eng. xi. (1880) 181 They had to camp out at night in the public squares. 1884 T. E. Dawson Handbk. Canada 301 Canadians who camp-out upon these islands. 1901 ‘L. Malet’ Hist. Sir R. Calmady ii. ii. 96 He..took to camping-out on one of the broad window-seats of the Long Gallery. |
3. trans. To establish or place in camp; to lodge; † also to place, put (obs.).
| 1549 Compl. Scot. 83 The tua gryt battellis of onnumerabil men of veyr var campit neir to giddir. 1598 Barret Theor. Warres ii. i. 20 In Garrisons it [Ensign]..is most often camped upon the wall. 1616 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. iv. viii. 33 Had our great Pallace the Capacity To campe this hoast. a 1888 Mod. The troops would be camped along the river side. 1920 J. M. Hunter Trail Drivers of Texas 63, I told the cook..to take the wagon and camp it up the river. 1930 L. G. D. Acland Early Canterbury Runs v. 98 An old circular manuka yard which had been put up to camp the sheep in at night. |
4. intr. Of birds: to flock together, gyrate in the air (dial.). Of sheep or cattle: to flock together, usu. for rest or at night (Austral. and N.Z.).
| 1847 A. Harris Settlers & Convicts xii. 234 A flock of sheep ‘camping’, as the shepherds call it, under the shade of a tree from the noon-tide heat. 1879 Norfolk Archæol. VIII. 168 ‘The rooks are camping’ is an expression often heard in the autumn when those birds assemble together and gyrate in the air. 1933 L. G. D. Acland in Press (Christchurch, N.Z.) 16 Sept. 15/7 Sheep which camp together are also said to ‘break camp’ when they move off to feed at dawn. 1938 F. S. Anthony in D. M. Davin N.Z. Short Stories (1953) 220 The first thing we saw was our twenty cows, camping alongside the fence, chewing their cuds. |
5. to camp on (trans.): to reserve (a telephone call) to another, engaged, telephone using a camp-on facility. Also absol. Cf. camp-on.
| 1977 Daily Tel. 10 Mar. 2 (Advt.), An incoming call for an extension that is already engaged (busy) and the caller is willing to wait, can be ‘camped’ on to the engaged extension so that immediately the extension is free the call is automatically connected. 1985 Telephone Syst. Man. (Oxf. Univ. Press) 20 If you attempt to camp on to a phone after someone else you will hear the number unobtainable tone. |
▪ VII. camp, v.3 slang.
(kæmp)
[Etym. obscure.]
a. trans. To make (something) ‘camp’ (see camp a.); esp. in phr. to camp it up, to use exaggerated movements, gestures, etc., to over-act. b. intr. To be ‘camp’; to be or behave like a homosexual.
| 1931 New Broadway Brevities (N.Y.) ii. 10/1 Boys and men with painted faces and dyed hair flaunt themselves camping and whoopsing for hours each night. Ibid. 10/2 His greatest triumph had been the management of a drag of his own at Bryant Hall, overlooking Bryant Park, so that most of the customers merely crossed the street to camp in a hall instead of a park. 1959 Spectator 13 Nov. 667/3 Most of the time he camps it up for sniggers with manly gestures fading into womanly wriggles. 1960 Encounter Feb. 23/2 He..had taken to an open, defiant ‘camping’. 1962 R. Cook Crust on its Uppers Foreword, You all love to shiver and say ‘Ooh!’ and camp about at the mention of the word ‘crime’. 1965 G. Melly Owning-Up xv. 188 We were all very impressed by the thought of being used [in a film] as the basis for characters and camped it up like mad. |
▪ VIII. camp, a. (and n.5) slang.
(kæmp)
[Etym. obscure.]
Ostentatious, exaggerated, affected, theatrical; effeminate or homosexual; pertaining to or characteristic of homosexuals. So as n., ‘camp’ behaviour, mannerisms, etc. (see quot. 1909); a man exhibiting such behaviour.
| 1909 Ware Passing Eng. 61/2 Camp (Street), actions and gestures of exaggerated emphasis. Probably from the French. Used chiefly by persons of exceptional want of character. ‘How very camp he is.’ 1931 New Broadway Brevities (N.Y.) ii. 7/1 (heading) Drags, camps, flaunting hip-twisters and reefer peddlers run afoul of cops on the lam. 1933 M. Lincoln Oh! Definitely vi. 62 Dennis, slightly more ‘camp’ than usual, opened the front door. 1941 S. J. Baker Dict. Austral. Slang 16 Camp (adj.), homosexual. 1952 A. Wilson Hemlock & After i. v. 101 The..gossip of the golden spiv group{ddd}the ‘camp’ end of the room. Ibid. ii. i. 112 The incoherence of his speech, the..absence of the customary ‘camp’. Ibid. iii. i. 191 Whether Terence was really ‘queer’..how much happier he was when he was not being ‘camp’. 1954 C. Beaton Glass of Fashion viii. 153 Hearty naval commanders or jolly colonels acquired the ‘camp’ manners of calling everything from Joan of Arc to Merlin ‘lots of fun’, and the adjective ‘terrible’ peppered every sentence. 1954 C. Isherwood World in Evening ii. iii. 125 High Camp is the whole emotional basis of the Ballet..and of course of Baroque art. 1956 L. McIntosh Oxford Folly vii. 103 ‘He was—you know—one of those’..‘What, a pansy?’ ‘That's right,’ said Julian, ‘he was camp.’ 1959 Observer 1 Feb. 17/1 The cute little dirty chuckle and the well-timed ‘camp’ gesture have made stage and audience indistinguishable from any would-be-smart cocktail-party. 1964 S. Sontag in Partisan Rev. XXXI. 515 (title) Notes on ‘Camp’. |