camper

Pluralcampers

1. 1
   nouncountable

   A person who stays outdoors overnight, especially in a tent, for recreation.

   Every camper hauled a heavy backpack up the steep trail.

   Experienced campers always store their food well away from where they sleep.

2. 2
   nouncountable

   A van, truck, or similar vehicle whose back section has been fitted out as living and sleeping quarters.

   We parked the camper beside the river and unfolded the awning.

   Their new camper came with a propane stove and a small refrigerator.

   Similarmotorhome, RV

   Note

   Here the -er names a thing rather than a person: the vehicle one camps in, not the person who camps. Because the living space is built onto a motor vehicle, a camper drives itself, and that separates it from a trailer, which must be towed. Roberta Martin Starry's Gold Gamble (2003) keeps the two apart, with trailers and campers pulling into Red Rock Canyon days early for a good parking spot.

3. 3
   nounderogatorycountable

   A player who stays in one fixed spot during a first-person shooter game, typically to guard an item or hold a position.

   The whole team grew frustrated with the camper lurking in the stairwell.

   He played as a camper, holding the bomb site for the entire round.

   Note

   Gaming took the ordinary verb camp, to stay put, and turned it against players who never leave one spot. They guard an item or hold a position while everyone else moves with the action. The word is an accusation rather than a neutral description, because it implies the tactic is unsporting or cowardly. Use it as a complaint about an opponent, not as a plain name for a strategy.

4. 4
   adjective

   Comparative form of camp.

   The remake felt camper than the gritty original everyone remembered.

   His stage persona grew camper with every performance.

   Note

   A different word from the person who camps, though spelled the same: it builds on camp the adjective, meaning theatrical, ostentatiously effeminate, or knowingly self-parodying. The comparative adds -er to a one-syllable adjective in the regular way. The longer form more camp is also common and often preferred in formal prose, and it avoids any clash with the noun.

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