To encamp for the night without tents or covering.

The site where a tent is set up. To spend a night out without a tent.

A camp, or the act of camping. On a big wall, camp can be made on a natural ledge or an artificial one, generally an aluminum and nylon cotlike device called a portaledge that hangs from one or more anchors on the wall. Also, "Bivy".

probably from Ger. beiwacht, "additional [night] watch", via Fr.] 1. any temporary encampment 2. an encampment without tents. 3. a temporary or ad-hoc shelter. Can be used as a verb in all three senses.

a temporary encampment.(empty)

temporary living quarters specially built by the army for soldiers; "wherever he went in the camp the men were grumbling"

a site where people on holiday can pitch a tent

live in or as if in a tent; "Can we go camping again this summer?"; "The circus tented near the town"; "The houseguests had to camp in the living room"

a lightweight, no-frills overnight stay that is usually unplanned

an encampment of soldiers in the open-air without tents or huts, but with temporary shelters improvised out of available materials

a temporary military encampment that is usually formed in an unsheltered area

a temporary, open-air encampment established between dusk and dawn and is issued only to technical climbers

A sleeping place on a route. Could be a large comfortable ledge. Or a cold uncomfortable night hanging from a stance.

A temporary camp that provides less comfort and shelter from the elements than a conventional tented campsite. Sleeping is usually in light tents or purpose-designed bivvy-bags. In the case of a climb which requires overnighting on a rock or mountain face, a bivouac can be made on a natural ledge or by using an artificial one. The latter - called a portaledge - is commonly lightweight cotlike device that hangs from one or more anchors on the wall.

A usually temporary encampment under little or no shelter. In terms of climbing, an overnight stay on a wall during a multi-day climb, or sleeping without a tent in a bivy sack during a climb.

A usually temporary camp with little protection from the elements. Mountaineers often bivy on summit days, when it is impractical to carry full camping gear.

A type of tent that accommodates only one person. Sometimes referred to as "body bags" or "bivvys."

An improvised shelter (often described in terms of an emergency) made of branches, logs, sticks, leaves, and/or snow

a lightweight, no-frills overnight stay - sometimes planned, sometimes not 2 large plastic trash bags can make an emergency bivouac shelter

Civil War armies did not always provide temporary shelter for their men on the move. The 2-man shelter (dog tent) was widely issued in the Northern armies but not always carried. In active operations men were expected to bivouac, to sleep in the open. The U.S. Army defined the term in 1861: "When an army passes the night without shelter, except such as can be hastily made of plants, branches, & c., it is said to bivouac."

or bivy A night spent at the base of a climb or enroute. Big-wall climbers sometimes carry a collapsible, hanging cot, called a portaledge, that can be suspended from the cliff, providing an airy bed.

high camp, not always a planned overnight stop

A temporary camp — sometimes planned, often not — that provides little or no shelter from the elements. Bivy, or Bivi, for short.

A bivouac is a structure formed by migratory army ant and driver ant colonies, where a nest is constructed out of the living ant worker's own bodies to protect the queen and larvae, and is later deconstructed as the ants move on.