champ
1 Americanverb (used with object)
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to bite upon or grind, especially impatiently.
The horses champed the oats.
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to crush with the teeth and chew vigorously or noisily; munch.
-
to mash; crush.
verb (used without object)
noun
idioms
noun
verb
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to munch (food) noisily like a horse
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to bite (something) nervously or impatiently; gnaw
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informal to be impatient to start work, a journey, etc
noun
-
the act or noise of champing
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dialect a dish, originating in Ireland, of mashed potatoes and spring onions or leeks
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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champsimple
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champssimple
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have champedperfect
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has champedperfect
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am champingprogressive
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are champingprogressive
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is champingprogressive
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have been champingperfect progressive
-
has been champingperfect progressive
Past
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champedsimple
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had champedperfect
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was champingprogressive
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were champingprogressive
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had been champingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of champ1
1520–30; perhaps akin to chap 1; see chop 1
Origin of champ2
By shortening
Explanation
A champ is someone who wins a contest or a prize. The winner of an elementary school fifty-yard dash is a champ. Champ is shorthand for champion — in other words, a winner or a victor. You might describe your favorite football team as a bunch of champs after they win the World Series. Another way to use the word champ is as a verb meaning "chomp," especially the way a horse bites nervously or eagerly at its bit. The original meaning of champ is "chew noisily," and the biting horse definition came next, in the 1600's.
Vocabulary lists containing champ
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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.
See Examples For:
We’re barely one week into the three-week race, and four-time champ Tadej Pogacar has enough time on his rivals to stop and have an espresso and a chocolatine.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 11, 2026
Some have interpreted this as the defining moment when A.I. surpassed human prowess in math, akin to the moment in 1997 when IBM’s Deep Blue took down chess champ Garry Kasparov.
From Slate ● Jun. 22, 2026
Reigning champ “The Pitt” is the consensus No. 1.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 21, 2026
Entering Friday’s Game 5, the Spurs are one win away from an irresistible showdown with defending champ Oklahoma City.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 14, 2026
“That’s right, after I won the Golden Gloves no one couldn’t tell me I wasn’t going to be middleweight champ within two, three years tops.”
From "Bud, Not Buddy" by Christopher Paul Curtis
Palisades 62, Eastvale Roosevelt 56: The City Section Open Division champs advanced to the Division II regional semifinal, knocking off the top-seeded defending state champion Mustangs on the road.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 6, 2026
Red and green cabbage deserve more love here; they stay crisp, add color and hold onto dressing like champs.
From Salon ● Dec. 16, 2025
The defending Super Bowl champs may be 8-3, still in charge atop the NFC East, all but surely playoff bound.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 24, 2025
Chicago are strangely the most consistent with eight wins in nine, but as they visit the Super Bowl champs on Thanksgiving we'll see just how good they really are.
From BBC ● Nov. 24, 2025
They didn’t know they were dealing with the reigning champs of the Maryvale College sports day.
From "Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood" by Trevor Noah
The vampirelike lamprey, sneaking into the Great Lakes in the 19th century, gradually champed its way through the fish population.
From New York Times ● Feb. 29, 2016
Gung-ho Lehman bankers champed at Japanese conservatism and bureaucracy, while Nomura veterans chafed at how much Lehman staff were paid.
From Reuters ● Jul. 24, 2015
We skated Wonderland numerous times over several days and all kinds of stuff went down, but Suski straight up champed out with five amazing tricks, all of which were photo-documented in an hour-nutter.
From Time Magazine Archive
Weatherbound, airplane pilots chafed and champed until dawn.
From Time Magazine Archive
I kept my eyes fixed on Lucy, as did Van Helsing, and we saw a spasm as of rage flit like a shadow over her face; the sharp teeth champed together.
From "Dracula" by Bram Stoker
We know that many states are already champing at the bit to do that.
From Slate ● Apr. 30, 2026
“We’re champing at the bit to get the data,” one FAA official in Washington said at the time, as days stretched on after the crash without a black-box readout.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 28, 2025
After years of contributing to championship-caliber teams, Plum is champing at the bit to lead her own squad.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 18, 2025
They are champing at the bit to memorialize him, but Fife’s motives in agreeing are not purely about the film.
From New York Times ● Dec. 5, 2024
Through the open door that led into the barn came the sound of moving horses, of feet stirring, of teeth champing on hay, of the rattle of halter chains.
From "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck
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.
