Stomping ground and stamping ground are two idioms that mean the same thing, though one is older. An idiom is a figure of speech that is a word, group of words or phrase that has a figurative meaning that is not easily deduced from its literal definition. We will examine the definition of stomping ground and stamping ground, where these terms came from and some examples of their use in sentences.
Stomping ground and stamping ground both refer to a place where someone spends the majority of his time, a place where someone hangs out. The words are sometimes rendered as plural, as in stomping grounds and stamping grounds, though the Oxford English Dictionary only lists the singular forms. The term stamping ground is older than stomping ground, first recorded around 1820. The idea of a stamping ground comes from nature. Animals often return to an area to bed down, which involves stamping down vegetation in order to make beds. The word stamping became stomping in the United States around the 1840s. Today, stamping ground, stamping grounds, stomping ground and stomping grounds are all in use, but the most popular term is stomping grounds, followed closely by the term stomping ground.
Examples
Seven days after inflicting the first defeat on the season on leaders Bargod Rangers at the pacesetters’ own Parc Puw stamping ground the West Carmarthenshire villagers turned on the style again as they sprang a 4-1 win. (The Tivyside Advertiser)
Her dad had lived in P.B. for a couple of years in his youth and had brought his family on vacation to his old stamping grounds when she was in high school. (The San Diego Union Tribune)
Dew, 55, launched what he calls Valley Tree Service initially, with his surgical stomping ground primarily in the Columbus area, which includes Harris, Talbot and Marion counties in Georgia, and Russell and Lee counties in Alabama. (The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer)