camp

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A place where people stay in tents or simple buildings for a short time.

   We set up our camp near the river for the night.

2. 2
   noun

   A place where children stay and do activities, especially in summer.

   The kids went to summer camp for two weeks.

3. 3
   verb

   To set up or stay in a camp, usually in a tent.

   We camped by the lake when we couldn't walk any further.

4. 4
   noun

   A guarded place where prisoners or soldiers are kept.

   The soldiers were grumbling all over the camp.

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 (“ba…

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