camp follower
- noun
- NSFW
:
mujer de compañía
- During the war, many camp followers provided services to soldiers on the front lines.
Examples
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She was a camp follower.
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The camp follower traveled from one battlefield to another, catering to the needs of the troops.
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She made a living as a camp follower, offering companionship to the soldiers during the military campaigns.
Synonyms
1
9.9
A person who sells goods to soldiers near their camp
A woman who travels with soldiers to give them food and drink during a war
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is partly recoverable from the parts: a B1 learner who knows 'camp' and 'follower' can infer 'someone who accompanies a camp or army.' However, the historical, specialized sense (specifically a prostitute who provided services to soldiers) is a sociocultural nuance not predictable from the literal constituents, so the expression is only partially transparent.
Etymology
Camp follower long ago also described people, often women, who travelled with the army and offered sexual services to soldiers; here the camp is the army base and a follower is someone who went with it. So, the term came to be used for 'a prostitute' in that military setting.