camp out

Idioms

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.

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.

In-N-Out, which has fans willing to camp out in parking lots to attend grand openings, has added only four states to its footprint in the last decade.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 19, 2026

As a fragile ceasefire holds, displaced Palestinian residents of Gaza City have returned to their homes only to find rubble, with many of them forced to camp out in makeshift shelters.

From Barron's • Oct. 16, 2025

Tran Thi Loan Anh, a 27-year-old tax advisor, said that she and her friends plan to camp out downtown at 3 a.m. the day of the parade, in order to secure a front-row view.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 27, 2025

Abby and her loyal band of former Fireflies camp out in a mountain lodge near the Jackson, Wyoming fort where Joel lives.

From Salon • Apr. 21, 2025

Sometimes Roza was locked out all night, and she was forced to camp out on the lumpy lounge couches, a poem by Wislawa Szymborska beating in her head: Four a.m., no one feels fine.

From "Bone Gap" by Laura Ruby

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023