Meaning of camp mother | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A woman employed to look after the youngest children at a summer camp.
2. A woman in charge of housekeeping tasks in a camp.
3. A woman in charge of housekeeping and the supervision of campers at a summer camp.
4. A woman who took on the role of adoptive mother to a motherless girl in a concentration camp.
   historical

Examples

“The choice of the Aloha Camps was a happy one; but Mrs. Gulick should be designated as camp director instead of camp mother. Camp mother is used to designate the person in charge of midgets at a boys' camp.”

“A camp mother, who is introduced during registration, has been found a real asset in Massachusetts. She answers questions, solves small difficulties, and is especially in demand⟳ in mixed camps.”

“I would tell⟳ the camp mother, on my way out, so she would take⟳ charge while I was away.”

“Here we were met by a rugged individual in khaki shorts and football jersey who introduced herself as Panther-in-Chief, the camp mother to whom we could go with all our troubles.”

“I mean⟳ people that wanted to drum all day and people were trying to have⟳ conversations about stuff that had importance to what was going on politically, and so there was an ongoing sense⟳ for me of a kind of young and restless energy, and that without people like⟳ Jean McLaren, who was camp mother basically for the whole summer, it wouldn't have⟳ been anything like⟳ as successful as it was.”

“The camp mother managed to keep⟳ the stomachs full and the beds in tip-top shape⟳.”

“Roles for such women were few: Mrs. Perry adopted the role of “camp mother” for her husband's expedition in the arctic; years later, Hannah Breece took a position as teacher in remote arctic villages.”

“At the entrance, a middle-aged woman with heavy eyebrows, black hair pulled back in a ponytail, and a strong smell⟳ of mints, introduced herself as Miss⟳ Stoakley, their camp mother.”

“She became known as the little girl who sat on the steps of the TB Block⟳, darting inside whenever she saw⟳ authorities, then going back to await the return⟳ of her camp mother.”

“She recalls, for instance, songs about the loss of the mother which were sung in the camp at Stutthof (pp. 7-8) and in Auschwitz (p. 1 8). She often refers to the phenomenon of the "camp mother" or "camp daughter," where one woman would take⟳ another under her protection.”

“Adelsberger herself was adopted by two young girls as their 'camp mother'.”

“Claire was sent away to a subcamp, and another camp mother, called Rosanne Lascroux, looked after Stella for a time.”

“It is no joke to be a "Camp Mother". When I think⟳ of it now, all the headaches she must have⟳ had. Here are some of the things she had to handle⟳: — One girl was afraid of feathers; another girl afraid of cows;”

“All campers swam, hiked, and attended campfires, but at many camps the youngest children had their own⟳ play⟳ spaces, a higher counselor-camper ratio, and the attention of a “Camp Mother” (often the wife or mother of the camp director), while the oldest children enjoyed special privileges such as later bedtimes or intercamp dances.”

“These nicknames ritualized relationships and ways of thinking about community and kinship outside traditional bounds; at many camps, counselors became “Aunt” or “Uncle,” while the youngest children were under the care of a “Camp Mother.””

“At the bottom of the steep boat-house steps she paused a moment to gather strength, laboriously climbed them, passed under the mosquito-netting portiere, and, strolling leisurely toward the kitchen corner where Camp Mother was busily frying bacon and eggs on the blue-flame burner camp-fire.”

“Mrs. Reimann is a true "Camp Mother" to every boy in camp, caring for their intimate needs, helping them tide over lonesome times, sewing on buttons, and doing everything a mother is called on to do at home.”

“Some years at Camp Winsoki, our mother worked as the camp nurse, but more often she was something called Camp Mother, the woman who tended to the needs of several hundred Jewish children: their allergies, homesickness, bedwetting, ...”

“The monstrous thought of going to the Camp Mother occurred to her ("Did you hear⟳ about Betsy? Went tearing off to old Auntie Jane to say⟳ her roommate was missing, and here all the time the poor girl was...") and she spoke to several other people, wondering and curious, phrasing it each time as a sort⟳ of casual question⟳;”

CEFR level