stamping ground

plural stamping grounds

1. figurativelyA habitually frequented place; a haunt or hangout.

   Em and Mat keep the corridor without their room beautifully clean, and so it has become an especial favourite stamping ground for these vagrants.

   1890, William Booth, In Darkest England and the Way Out

   3 more examples

   Had I been out on the adventure-path, I should as a matter of course have been drinking. For that is the pity of the adventure-path, which is one of John Barleycorn's favourite stamping grounds.

   1913 August, Jack London, chapter XXIII, in John Barleycorn, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC

   In their stamping grounds in the jungle the three were familiar figures. The little monkeys knew them well, often coming close to chatter and frolic about them.

   1915 December 4 – 1916 January 8, Edgar Rice Burroughs, chapter X, in The Son of Tarzan, Chicago, Ill.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg & Co., published March 1917, →OCLC

   Only once was Judge Taylor ever seen at a dead standstill in open court, and the Cunninghams stopped him. Old Sarum, their stamping grounds, was populated by two families separate and apart in the beginning, but unfortunately bearing the same name.

   1960 July 11, Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, Philadelphia, Pa.; New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC

   Synonyms: stomping ground