camp, noun1

Origin:
EnglishShow more General English camp encampment, in several transferred uses.
1.
a. In historical contexts. A name given to any town which grew out of a temporary mining settlement, especially Johannesburg.
1873 F. Boyle To Cape for Diamonds 78Pniel could not be called a town, for it has but a few hundred inhabitants. Village it is not,..none could describe it as a settlement, seeing no person or thing therein is settled...Pniel, by official designation, is a ‘camp’. Just a camp it is indeed, and one very disorderly.
1908 D. Blackburn Leaven (1991) 124Dane went into ‘camp’, as most of the old hands still call Johannesburg.
1933 [see Boer bread].
b. comb.
camp fever Pathology, see quotation.
1970 Beeton & Dorner in Eng. Usage in Sn Afr. Vol.1 No.1, 25Camp fever,..Traditional name for ‘enteric’, formerly very common among the mining community at Kimberley & in Johannesburg in the early days, owing to poor water supplies.
2. In historical contexts. Also with initial capital. Shortened form of concentration camp. Also attributive.
1901 E. Hobhouse Report of Visit to Camps 3I am anxious to submit to you without delay some account of the Camps in which the women and children are concentrated.
1902 Burger & Reitz in E. Hobhouse Brunt of War 108Still more pitiable was and is the lot of these families in the women’s camps — several of which camps are situated in the coldest winter (sic) and most stormy places in our land, namely at Belfast, Middelburg, Standerton, and Volksrust.
1902 E. Hobhouse Brunt of War 86Exposure and rough camp life have seriously affected Mrs. Hertzog’s health.
1933 W.H.S. Bell Bygone Days 358They set about their investigation in a very methodical and thorough manner; they never announced their intention of visiting a camp beforehand; they made surprise visits in nearly every case. They visited every concentration camp in South Africa.
1941 N. Devitt Concentration Camps 15The first camp is believed to have been erected in July 1900 near Mafeking whither came refugees from the western areas with their families and stock.
1957 A.C. Martin Concentration Camps 21The diseases were not confined merely to the camps established by the British. They were causing havoc in the camps of the Boers.
1979 T. Pakenham Boer War (1982) 495The camps have left a gigantic scar across the minds of the Afrikaners: a symbol of deliberate genocide.
3.
a. Shortened form of rest camp.
1948 H. Wolhuter Mem. of Game Ranger 86I heard some elephants trumpeting..not far from the present ‘Gorge’ camp.
1948 H. Wolhuter Mem. of Game Ranger 189I drove up to within a few feet of the recumbent animal, and told the boys to load it onto the lorry and we would take it home as meat for the camp.
1948 A.C. White Call of Bushveld 180This section of visitors demand luxury hotels in the camps, a full measure of telephone communication, bioscope and dance halls.
1951 T.V. Bulpin Lost Trails of Low Veld 274Three new ranger camps were established to administer the new areas.
1951 T.V. Bulpin Lost Trails of Low Veld 277In the old days people came to camp and rough it and enjoy the glamour of the wilds...Now..mankind demands luxury and the camps have followed the demand...Inner-spring mattresses and snug bungalows in place of a sleeping bag and the twinkling stars.
1972 Etosha Nat. Park (brochure)It is..essential to reach the gate at least half an hour before sunset in order to be in the camp in time.
1975 E. Prov. Herald 14 Jan. 1An elderly lioness..is jealously guarding her new home from intrusion by visitors to the camp.
1988 M. Spence in Motorist 4th Quarter 4The Namutoni camp..is open throughout the year.
b. comb.
camp-attendant;
camp-superintendent.
1948 H. Wolhuter Mem. of Game Ranger 154One of the native camp-attendants, then working in the Rest Camp, might be in league with the poachers.
1948 H. Wolhuter Mem. of Game Ranger 187The camp-superintendent had sent me a message to say that this particular party had failed to return to camp.
4. Any of several short periods of annual military duty, usually compulsory after completion of national service. Also attributive. See also Citizen Force.
[c1936 S. & E. Afr. Yr Bk & Guide 476The commonage of this town (sc. Worcester) has been chosen by the military authorities as being healthy and suitable for military purposes, two Defence Force Camps being held here annually before the late war.]
1977 E. Prov. Herald 31 MayFrom January next year all national servicemen would do 24 months’ continuous training followed by eight annual camps of 30 days each.
1979 Fair Lady 5 Dec. 65The second of Kim’s three camp call-ups.
1986 J. Conyngham Arrowing of Cane 126The khaki envelope arrived with my afternoon tea...B Company, Natal Fusiliers will be doing a ninety-day camp in the operational area, beginning next month.
1988 Student Advisor’s Circular (Rhodes Univ.)If notice is given well in advance, students should not find themselves being called up for training camps during term time.
1990 Weekly Mail 21 Dec. (Suppl.) 11An 18-month sentence at Zonderwater Prison for refusing to do a one-month camp.
1991 Weekend Post 6 Apr. (Leisure) 5As a SA ‘troopie’ doing a three-month camp at Mpacha, one of my duties was to sign visitors to the base.
A name given to any town which grew out of a temporary mining settlement, especially Johannesburg.
Also with initial capital.Shortened form of concentration camp. Also attributive.
Shortened form of rest camp.
Any of several short periods of annual military duty, usually compulsory after completion of national service. Also attributive.
Derivatives:
Hence (sense 4) camper  noun, a member of the Citizen Force called up for a short period of military duty.
1984 Fair Lady 14 Nov. 133Home for months at a time to thousands of national servicemen and ‘campers’, sector one zero is in the operational area.
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