champ
champ Lexical Profile
champ Game Scores & Validity
• noun
An informal term for a champion or winner of a competition, or a person who excels or endures admirably.
"She handled the grueling twelve-hour shift like a true champ."
Irish A traditional Irish dish made of creamy mashed potatoes mixed with chopped scallions (spring onions), butter, and milk.
"We served roasted sausages alongside a generous mound of warm, buttery champ."
The act or sound of biting, chewing, or grinding noisily.
"The horse gave a restless champ on its iron bit before the race began."
• verb
To bite, chew, or grind upon something noisily or impatiently (especially of a horse biting on its bit).
"The spirited stallion champed its bit while waiting at the starting gate."
Word Nuance & Usage
In the idiom 'champing at the bit' (meaning to show impatience to start), 'champing' is the traditional verb referring to a restless horse biting its metal bit, though 'chomping at the bit' has become a widely accepted variant in modern usage.
• Rhymes for champ
Word Origin & Etymology
As a noun meaning winner, it is a late 19th-century informal shortening of 'champion' (from Late Latin 'campio', meaning a gladiator or combatant in the field). The verb meaning to chew noisily is an unrelated 16th-century word, likely of imitative origin.