camp1
n.
- a place with temporary accommodation used by soldiers, refugees, or travelling people.
▸a complex of buildings for holiday accommodation.
-
(also summer camp)
N. Amer. a summer holiday programme for children, offering a range of activities.
- the supporters of a particular party or doctrine regarded collectively.
- Brit. Archaeology a prehistoric enclosed or fortified site, especially an Iron Age hill fort.
- S. African a fenced field or enclosed area for grazing.
▸Austral./NZ a place where livestock regularly congregate.
v.
- live or stay temporarily, especially in a tent or caravan while on holiday.
- Austral./NZ (of livestock) assemble together.
- S. African divide (land) and enclose it with fences.
Phrase
- break camp
take down a tent or the tents of an encampment ready to leave.
Etymology
C16: from Fr. camp, champ, from Ital. campo, from L. campus ‘level ground’.
camp2
adj.
(of a man) ostentatiously and extravagantly effeminate.
▸deliberately exaggerated and theatrical in style.
n.
camp behaviour or style.
v.
(
usu. camp it up)
(of a man) behave in a camp way.
Derivative
- campery n.
- campily adv.
- campiness n.
- campy adj.
Etymology
early 20th cent.: of unknown origin.