champ
English
Etymology 1
See champion
Pronunciation
- (US, UK, General American, Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /t͡ʃæmp/
Audio (UK) (file)
- Rhymes: -æmp
Noun
champ (plural champs)
- (colloquial) Clipping of champion.
- (colloquial, in the plural) Clipping of championship.
- The team failed to make it to the Champs.
- (informal) buddy, sport, mate (as a term of address)
- Whatcha doing, champ?
Derived terms
Etymology 2
From Middle English champen, chammen (“to bite; gnash the teeth”), perhaps originally imitative.
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Pronunciation
- (US, UK, General American, Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /t͡ʃæmp/
Audio (UK) (file)
- Rhymes: -æmp
Verb
champ (third-person singular simple present champs, present participle champing, simple past and past participle champed)
- (transitive, intransitive) to bite or chew, especially noisily or impatiently.
- 1594–1597, Richard Hooker, J[ohn] S[penser], editor, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Will[iam] Stansby [for Matthew Lownes], published 1611, OCLC 931154958, (please specify the page):
- They began […] irefully to champ upon the bit.
- 1700, [John] Dryden, “Palamon and Arcite: Or, The Knight’s Tale. In Three Books.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], OCLC 228732415:
- Foamed and champed the golden bit.
- 1938, Xavier Herbert, Capricornia, New York: D. Appleton-Century, 1943, Chapter XII, p. 200,
- He was mad, reeling about and gesticulating at the rushing train, and champing and gurgling like a lunatic.
- 1951, Isaac Asimov, Foundation (1974 Panther Books Ltd publication), part V: “The Merchant Princes”, chapter 13, page 166, ¶ 18
- The man beside him placed a cigar between Mallow’s teeth and lit it. He champed on one of his own and said, “You must be overworked. Maybe you need a long rest.”
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Derived terms
Translations
Derived terms
Etymology 3
From champagne by shortening.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ʃæmp/
Audio (UK) (file)
Noun
champ (uncountable)
- (informal) champagne
- 1990, Ann Heller, "Prom Nights Often Offer Students Primer On Fine Dining", Dayton Daily News, 6 April 1990:
- "They're dressed up very elegantly and it's nice they have a glass of champ, even if it's non-alcoholic," Reif says.
- 2009, The Lonely Island (featuring T-Pain), "I'm on a Boat", Incredibad:
- We're drinkin' Santana champ, 'cause it's so crisp
- 1990, Ann Heller, "Prom Nights Often Offer Students Primer On Fine Dining", Dayton Daily News, 6 April 1990:
Alternative forms
- champe (obsolete?)
Noun
champ (plural champs)
Verb
champ (third-person singular simple present champs, present participle champing, simple past and past participle champed)
- To camp overnight in a historic church as a novelty or part of a holiday.
Related terms
References
- Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield, Massachusetts, G.&C. Merriam Co., 1967
French

Etymology
From Middle French champ, from Old French champ, inherited from Latin campus (“field”). Doublet of camp.
Pronunciation
Noun
champ m (plural champs)
- field in its various senses, including:
- 1876, "C" in the Encyclopædia Britannica, 9th ed., Vol. IV, p. 616:
- ...before a in French an original c has the sound sh, and is spelt ch, as in champ (campus), chambre (camera).
- a wide open space
- an area of study
- (mathematics) a vector field, tensor field, or scalar field (but not a commutative ring with identity for which every nonzero element has a multiplicative inverse, cf. corps)
- (heraldry) the background of a shield's design
- 1876, "C" in the Encyclopædia Britannica, 9th ed., Vol. IV, p. 616:
Derived terms
- alouette des champs
- à tout bout de champ (“constantly, at the drop of a hat”)
- à travers champs
- champ'
- champagne
- Champagne
- champ clos
- champ d'action
- champ d'aviation
- champ de bataille (“battlefield”)
- champ de course
- champ de foire
- champ de force
- champ de manœuvres
- champ de Mars
- champ de mines
- champ des morts
- champ de tir
- champ de vision (“field of view, line of sight”)
- champ d'honneur
- champ d'observation
- champ du repos
- champ électrique
- champ électromagnétique
- champ gravitationnel
- champi
- champ lexical
- champ libre
- champ magnétique (“magnetic field”)
- champ opératoire
- champ scalaire
- champs Élysées
- champ sémantique
- champ tensoriel
- champ vectoriel
- clé des champs
- contrechamp (“reverse shot”)
- courir les champs
- échampir
- hors-champ
- mettre aux champs
- prêle des champs
- prendre du champ
- prendre la clé des champs
- prendre la clef des champs
- réchampir
- sur-le-champ (“immediately, at once, straightaway”)
- travaux des champs
Descendants
- → English: champ
Further reading
- “champ”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Old French
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈtʃamp/
Noun
champ m (oblique plural chans, nominative singular chans, nominative plural champ)
- field
- (by extension) battlefield
Scots
Etymology
Late Middle English, probably imitative.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [tʃam], [tʃamp], [dʒam], [dʒamp]
Verb
champ (third-person singular simple present champs, present participle champin, simple past champit, past participle champit)
- to mash, crush, pound
- to chew voraciously