[f. CHAMPION + -SHIP.]

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  1.  The position or office of a champion; the acting as champion of; advocacy, defence.

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1840.  Hood, Up the Rhine, 228. Markham’s extempore championship of the twelve tribes.

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1869.  Seeley, Ess. & Lect., i. 7. Cæsar’s championship of the provincials.

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1876.  Mozley, Univ. Serm., i. 12. The most disinterested of conceivable championships, the championship of the theory of persecution without the advantage of the fact, which is now no longer possible.

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  2.  The position of ‘champion,’ conqueror, or superior in any contest or trial.

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1825.  Hone, Every-day Bk., I. 427. A modern pugilist would call this a set-to for the championship.

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1887.  G. C. Boase, in Dict. Nat. Biog. IX. 332/1. He … met Bendigo … on 9 Sept. 1845, and … contested for 200l. and the championship.

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  b.  attrib.

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1874.  J. D. Heath, Croquet-Player, 93. The championship meeting in July, when ‘The Championship of Croquet’ … is competed for by all comers.

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1881.  Echo, 17 Jan., 4/2. The Championship Billiard Match … Quickest time on record in a championship match.

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