camp follower
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.54 in modern English
24
Scrabble Score
12
Letters
5
Syllables
10
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A civilian who follows an army, typically a family member of a soldier or someone who provides services to the soldiers, e.g. prostitution, sale of liquor, cooking and laundry.
noun
A person who provides services to those engaged in a particular endeavor.
Example Sentences
- "But besides these incompetents, there was always a train of camp followers, —women who followed the camp, beggars, and criminals, whose number was often greater than the number of fighting soldiers."
- "There were very few camp followers at the beginning of the American Revolution. But as the war dragged on, the need for families to be together won out."
- "General Washington, in particular, fumed about camp followers, regularly complaining that pregnant women, small children, chickens, dogs, and domestic paraphernalia drastically diminished his army's mobility."
- "While prostitutes were camp followers, so were civilian wagon drivers, cooks, supply contractors, laundresses, valets, musicians, and family members of soldiers."
- "Unlike many other camp followers of that period, these Frenchwomen were regulated and officially recognized, and played a highly appreciated part in the army's daily life."
- "When the camp followers are engaged in supplying genuine recreation, in ministering to intellectual and spiritual wants instead of pandering to destructive instincts, the economic as well as the moral health of the community is sound."