campout

or camp-out

[ kamp-out ]

noun
  1. a camping out of a group.

Origin of campout

1
1875–80, Americanism; noun use of verb phrase camp out

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use campout in a sentence

  • To Cordova tonight, and to a camp out on a glacier tomorrow.

  • A few families pitched their wigwams together and lived in much the same way as people do now when they camp out in the summer.

    Four American Indians | Edson L. Whitney
  • But Chippy Hackee continued to camp out for another week, although it was uncomfortable.

    The Tale of Timmy Tiptoes | Beatrix Potter
  • We have some biscuit in our pockets, and if we don't get back before night, why we will just camp out.

Other Idioms and Phrases with campout

campout

Sleep outdoors; also, stay somewhere for an unusually long time. For example, “We camped out in a field this night” (George Washington, Journal, March 18, 1748). In the early 1900s, the expression was extended to figurative uses, meaning simply “to stay somewhere for an unusually long time,” as in She camped out at the stage door, hoping for an autograph.

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.