champaign
noun
level, open country; plain.
champaign
1 American
[sham-peyn]
/ ʃæmˈpeɪn /
noun
-
level, open country; plain.
-
Obsolete. a battlefield.
adjective
Champaign
2
American
[sham-peyn]
/ ʃæmˈpeɪn /
noun
champaign
British
/ ʃæmˈpeɪn /
noun
-
Also called: campagna. an expanse of open level or gently undulating country
-
an obsolete word for battlefield
Etymology
Origin of champaign
1350–1400; Middle English champai ( g ) ne < Middle French champa ( i ) gne < Latin campānia; see campaign
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
I have a roster of great wines that start around $7 or $8 and go to $13 -- my limit, unless it's champaign.
From New York Times • Jan. 12, 2017
The newly engaged couple appeared on Fox 5’s “Good Day DC” Monday morning, where the staff feted them with cake and champaign.
From Washington Times • Nov. 2, 2015
In November came the U.S. invasion of North Africa and a sudden, inordinate drain on Eastern oil stocks; as the North African champaign became more complicated, the drain increased.
From Time Magazine Archive
But when grim Boreas thunders; when the East And black-winged West, roll out the sonorous peal, The teeming dikes o’erflow the wide champaign, And seamen furl their dripping sails.
From The Philosophy of the Weather And a Guide to Its Changes by Butler, Thomas Belden
And then for our cavallery, how often, in the champaign How they brake often have they brake their piles.
From Philip Massinger by Cruickshank, A. H.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
