See also: Camp, CAMP, cAMP, câmp, cãmp, and cämp-

EnglishEdit

 
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PronunciationEdit

Etymology 1Edit

From Middle English kampe (battlefield, open space), from Old English camp (battle, contest, battlefield, open space), from Proto-West Germanic *kamp (open field where military exercises are held, level plain), from Latin campus (open field, level plain), from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂emp- (to bend; crooked). Reinforced circa 1520 by Middle French can, camp (place where an army lodges temporarily), from Old Northern French camp, from the same Latin (whence also French champ from Old French). Cognate with Old High German champf (battle, struggle) (German Kampf), Old Norse kapp (battle), Old High German hamf (paralysed, maimed, mutilated). Doublet of campus.

The verb is from Middle English campen, from Old English campian, compian (to fight, war against), from Proto-West Germanic *kampōn (to fight, do battle), from *kamp (field, battlefield, battle), see above. Cognate with Dutch kampen, German kämpfen (to struggle), Danish kæmpe, Swedish kämpa.

NounEdit

camp (countable and uncountable, plural camps)

  1. An outdoor place acting as temporary accommodation in tents or other temporary structures.
  2. An organised event, often taking place in tents or temporary accommodation.
  3. A base of a military group, not necessarily temporary.
  4. A single hut or shelter.
    a hunter's camp
  5. The company or body of persons encamped.
  6. A group of people with the same strong ideals or political leanings.
  7. (obsolete) An army.
  8. (uncommon) Campus
  9. (informal) A summer camp.
  10. (prison slang) A prison.
    • 2009, Nick Chandler; Jeanette Billings, Determined to Change: The Autobiography of Nick Chandler, page 184:
      Lantana is a sweet camp. It's an old hospital that has been converted to a drug treatment center for prisoners.
  11. (agriculture) A mound of earth in which potatoes and other vegetables are stored for protection against frost
    Synonyms: burrow, pie
  12. (obsolete) Conflict; battle.
Derived termsEdit
Related termsEdit
DescendantsEdit
  • German: Camp
  • Irish: campa
  • Japanese: キャンプ (kyanpu)
  • Korean: 캠프 (kaempeu)
  • Malay: kem
  • Ottoman Turkish: قامپ
  • Scottish Gaelic: campa
  • Scottish Gaelic: campadh
  • Spanish: campo (semantic loan) (New Mexico)
  • Swahili: kambi
TranslationsEdit
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

VerbEdit

camp (third-person singular simple present camps, present participle camping, simple past and past participle camped)

  1. To live in a tent or similar temporary accommodation.
    We're planning to camp in the field until Sunday.
  2. To set up a camp.
  3. (transitive) To afford rest or lodging for.
  4. (intransitive, sports, video games) To stay in an advantageous location.
    Some players like to camp next to a power-up's spawning point.
    • 1962, Coach & Athlete, page 18:
      Yet, even without the three second rule, where your big man could camp underneath and take those delightful “garbage” shots, there was little or no pivot offense, no cutting off the bucket.
  5. (transitive, video games) To stay beside (something) to gain an advantage.
    The easiest way to win on this map is to camp the double damage.
    Go and camp the flag for the win.
  6. (transitive, video games) Short for corpse camp.
  7. (intransitive, obsolete) To fight; contend in battle or in any kind of contest; to strive with others in doing anything; compete.
    • 1562, Leigh, The Accedens of Armory ː
      Aristotle affirmeth that Rauens will gather together on sides, and campe and fight for victorie.
  8. (intransitive, obsolete) To wrangle; argue.
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Etymology 2Edit

Unknown. Suggested origins include the 17th century French word camper (to put oneself in a pose),[1] an assumed dialectal English word *camp or *kemp (rough, uncouth) and a derivation from camp (n.)[2] Believed to be from Polari, otherwise obscure.[3]

 
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NounEdit

camp (uncountable)

  1. An affected, exaggerated or intentionally tasteless style.
    • 1985 September 2, Joe Klein, quoting Douglas S. Cramer, “The Real Star of ‘Dynasty’”, in New York, page 34:
      We walk a fine line, just this side of camp. Careful calculations are made. We sense that while it might be wonderful for Krystle and Alexis to have a catfight in a koi pond, it would be inappropriate for Joan to smack Linda with a koi.
    • 1996 March 31, Trip Gabriel, “Showgirls' Crawls Back As High Camp at Midnight”, in The New York Times[1], →ISSN:
      Why would any Hollywood studio encourage a film's transformation into camp, in effect joining in the mockery of its own product? MGM declined to comment.
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit

AdjectiveEdit

camp (comparative camper, superlative campest)

  1. Theatrical; making exaggerated gestures.
  2. (of a man) Ostentatiously effeminate.[4]
    • 2007, David Rothwell, Dictionary of Homonyms, Wordsworth Editions, →ISBN, page 88:
      More recently the word has become colloquial English for either implying that someone is a homosexual (‘he's very camp’), or for describing rather outre behaviour []
    • 2014, Sarah Lotz, The Three, Hachette UK, →ISBN:
      And to be honest, in the illustration Mr Tumnus does look as camp as fuck with his little scarf tied jauntily around his neck. I suppose it isn't outside the realms of possibility that he'd just been off cottaging with some centaurs in the forest. God.
  3. Intentionally tasteless or vulgar, self-parodying.
    • 2002, Georges-Claude Guilbert, Madonna as Postmodern Myth, McFarland, →ISBN, page 123:
      In Saturday Night Live, Madonna also unsurprisingly played Princess Diana, Marilyn Monroe, and a Joan Collins clone, all in a very camp way. As John Dean writes: “U.S. rock has a ruling camp queen with Madonna.”
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit

DescendantsEdit

Etymology 3Edit

From Spanish campo (countryside).

NounEdit

camp (countable and uncountable, plural camps)

  1. (slang, Falkland Islands) The areas of the Falkland Islands situated outside the capital and largest settlement, Stanley.
  2. An electoral constituency of the legislative assembly of the Falkland Islands that composes of all territory more than 3.5 miles from the spire of the Christ Church Cathedral in Stanley.

See alsoEdit

ReferencesEdit

  1. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “camp”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
  2. ^ Michael Quinion, "Camp" in: World Wide Words, 2003
  3. ^ listed in the Oxford English Dictionary, second edition (1989)
  4. ^ Reuben, David R. (1969), chapter 8, in Everything you always wanted to know about sex but were too afraid to ask, New York: David McKay Company, Inc., published 1970, →LCCN, Homosexuals have their own language?, page 146: “CAMP: be obviously and obnoxiously homosexual”

AnagramsEdit

CatalanEdit

EtymologyEdit

Inherited from Latin campus (compare Occitan camp, French champ, Spanish campo), from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂emp- (to bend, curve).

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

camp m (plural camps)

  1. field (open area of land)
    Synonym: terreny
  2. camp (temporary outdoor accommodation)
    Synonym: campament
  3. field of study, discipline
    Synonym: disciplina
  4. (physics) field

Derived termsEdit

Related termsEdit

ReferencesEdit

  • “camp” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

FrenchEdit

 
camp militaire pendant la guerre de 1914-18.

Etymology 1Edit

Probably from a Norman or Picard word equivalent to French champ (itself inherited from Old French champ and Latin), from Old Northern French camp, from Latin campus, or alternatively from Occitan camp, Old Occitan camp, possibly Italian campo. Doublet of champ.

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

camp m (plural camps)

  1. camp (An outdoor place acting as temporary accommodation in tents or other temporary structures.)
    Il a dressé son camp de l'autre côté de la rivière. ― He has erected his camp on the other side of the river.
  2. camp (Semi-temporary accommodation)
    Un camp de concentration. ― A concentration camp.
  3. camp (A base of a military group, not necessarily temporary)
    Les camps ennemis. ― The enemy camps.
  4. camp (A group of people with the same ideals or political leanings, strongly supported.)
    Ce pays est partagé en deux camps. ― This country is divided into two camps.
  5. camp, summer camp
    Un camp de vacances. ― A summer camp. (idiomatic; French usage does not specify a season)
Derived termsEdit
Related termsEdit

Etymology 2Edit

 
très camp!

Borrowed from English camp.

PronunciationEdit

AdjectiveEdit

camp (invariable)

  1. camp (Intentionally tasteless or vulgar, self-parodying, affected, exaggerated)
    Une folle camp ne peut jamais en faire trop.

NounEdit

camp m (uncountable)

  1. campness; An affected, exaggerated or intentionally tasteless style
    La tactique des Sœurs dans la lutte contre le sida repose sur une stratégie politique : une utilisation du camp, une réappropriation revendiquée de l’efféminement, de la visibilité homosexuelle et de la follitude qui visent à désarmer les injonctions morales pesant sur la sexualité – sociales, religieuses, liées au sexe, au genre, aux pratiques sexuelles…
SynonymsEdit

Further readingEdit

Middle EnglishEdit

Etymology 1Edit

From Old English campian.

VerbEdit

camp

  1. Alternative form of campen

Etymology 2Edit

From Old Norse kampr.

AdjectiveEdit

camp

  1. Alternative form of kempe (shaggy)

NormanEdit

Alternative formsEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Old Northern French camp (compare Old French champ), from Latin campus, from Proto-Indo-European *kamp- (to bend; crooked). Compare French champ.

NounEdit

camp m (plural camps)

  1. (Guernsey) field

Old EnglishEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Proto-West Germanic *kamp, from Latin campus.

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

camp m

  1. combat

DeclensionEdit

Derived termsEdit

NounEdit

camp n

  1. an enclosed piece of land

DescendantsEdit

Old FrenchEdit

 
Le camp du drap d'or.

NounEdit

camp m (oblique plural cans, nominative singular cans, nominative plural camp)

  1. Alternative form of champ (field)

WelshEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Middle Welsh camp, from Proto-Brythonic *kamp, from Latin campus, from the senses of "field of action, scope, opportunity, or produce of a field".

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

camp f (plural campau)

  1. feat, accomplishment
    Synonym: gorchest
  2. sport, contest

Derived termsEdit

MutationEdit

Welsh mutation
radical soft nasal aspirate
camp gamp nghamp champ
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.