Skip to content

ambulance

noun

  1. vehicle equipped for transporting and care for ill and wounded people
L29573 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /ˈæm.bjə.ləns/ / /ˈæm.bə.ləns/ / /ˈæm.bjəˌlæns/

noun

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

  1. An emergency vehicle designed for transporting seriously ill or injured people to a hospital.

    The NHS is bracing itself for its worst ever winter crisis descending in the next fortnight because of a worsening “flu-nami” that has left hospitals, GP surgeries and ambulances services under intense strain.

  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

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

  1. To transport by ambulance.

    Ambulancing patients with acute obstruction over cobble and rails should not be tolerated; better render the necessary service where the patient is found.