English Explanatory Dictionary

ambulance

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. An emergency vehicle designed for transporting seriously ill or injured people to a hospital.
  2. A mobile field hospital.
  3. A vehicle used for the transportation of dead people, typically to a mortuary.
  4. Synonym of stretcher, a litter used for medical transport.
  5. Synonym of covered wagon.
verb
  1. To transport by ambulance.

Pronunciation

/ˈæm.bjə.ləns/ /ˈæm.bə.ləns/ /ˈæm.bjəˌlæns/ /ˈæm.bəˌlæns/ en-us-ambulance.ogg /ˈamb(j)ʊləns/

Word forms

ambulance ambulances ambulancing ambulanced

Etymology

Borrowed from French ambulance, which replaced hôpital ambulant (“moving hospital”) via the suffix -ance, from Latin ambulō (“to walk; to go about”).

Synonyms

band-aid buggy blood box body box bone box meat wagon private ambulance stretcher covered wagon

Related words

ambulant ambulatory

Derived words

air ambulance amberlamps ambulance at the bottom of a cliff ambulance-chase ambulance chaser ambulance chasing ambulance cover ambulanceman ambulanceperson ambulance train ambulancewoman ambulette cabulance call an ambulance field ambulance motor-ambulance nonambulance police ambulance private ambulance vanbulance wahmbulance wambulance
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