boot camp

American  

noun

U.S. Navy, Marines.

1. a camp for training recruits.

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boot camp British  

noun

1. slang  a basic training camp for new recruits to the US Navy or Marine Corps

2. a centre for juvenile offenders, with a strict disciplinary regime, hard physical exercise, and community labour programmes

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Etymology

Origin of boot camp

An Americanism dating back to 1940–45

Example Sentences

Some of the ideas from the groups included boosting parent engagement and involvement through workshops or boot camps.

From Los Angeles Times

Although she claims that Cam is her favorite kid, she only half-listens to him when he says he’s headed to boot camp, instructing him to return home with a carton of milk.

From Salon

Some founders break only to exercise at Barry’s boot camp or sweat out toxins at a bathhouse in the city, like Archimedes Banya, where they can chat about future funding rounds with peers.

From The Wall Street Journal

But, his grin fading, going through boot camp in New Orleans in the “dead brutal summer,” he says, was anything but a sitcom.

From Los Angeles Times

It was like his boot camp, we called it, but it was just us running around this potato field and I thought 'If anyone sees us, they're going to think what is this?

From BBC