break camp

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break camp

To pack up one's belongings and leave a campsite. We need to break camp and head back to town before nightfall.

break camp

to close down a campsite; to pack up and move on. Early this morning we broke camp and moved on northward. Okay, everyone. It's time to break camp. Take those tents down and fold them neatly.

See also: break, camp

break camp

Take down a tent and pack up other gear; also, leave a place, move out. For example, The landlord has to return my rent deposit before I'll break camp. Originally camp denoted a military encampment, but by the mid-1500s the term had been transferred to temporary outdoor sites used by hunters and the like. By the 19th century, the current term was in use. Thus, "It is the hunter's rule to see that the fire is extinguished ... before breaking camp." (F.H. Guillemard, Cruise of Marchesa I, 1886).

See also: break, camp

break camp

To pack up equipment and leave a campsite.

See also: break, camp

References in periodicals archive ?

The other boys having met with about the same luck as the main party, we broke camp at once, and moving down the river about four miles to get out of the sweep of the mountains, made camp.

Account of a prospecting trip north to Canada in 1873

The peace campaigners broke camp only this week, and the old bags had the nerve to suggest that they made this world a safer place.

Tony Parsons' Column: OFF TARGET

But Alexander broke camp with the varsity last season, the Patriots pleased with his continued development.

Stars shoot up his hopes; LB Alexander not intimidated

On the day the club broke camp, the injury only served to further muddle whatever personnel decisions are still to be made.

DODGERS UPDATE: INJURY MUDDLES MOVES

Tyson broke camp in Phoenix last week to return to the family home in Maryland, but signs of a reconciliation are not good.

Barry McGuigan's Column: Tyson's torture; I FEAR HE MAY GO SAME WAY AS SONNY LISTON THE VOICE OF BOXING

With the Freeway Series opening tonight in Anaheim, Dodgers manager Jim Tracy offered the following admonition before the club officially broke camp on Thursday:

DODGERS NOTEBOOK: DOG DAYS OF SPRING COME TO END

The group quickly broke camp and headed down the mountain, spreading out at the riskier slopes to minimize the chance that more than one would be caught in a slide.