ambulance
noun
- vehicle equipped for transporting and care for ill and wounded people
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”).
- 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.”
- A mobile field hospital.
- A vehicle used for the transportation of dead people, typically to a mortuary.
- Synonym of stretcher, a litter used for medical transport.
- 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”).
- 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.”