Dictionaries › English

ambush

Pronunciation: /ˈæm.bʊʃ/

The English word “ambush” has 7 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. The act of concealing oneself and lying in wait to attack or kill by surprise.
  2. An attack launched from a concealed position.
  3. The concealed position or state from which a surprise attack is launched.
  4. The troops posted in a concealed place, for attacking by surprise; those who lie in wait.
  5. A group of tigers.

verb

  1. To station in ambush with a view to surprise an enemy.
  2. To attack by ambush; to waylay.

Etymology

From Middle English enbuschen, from Old French enbuscier, anbuchier (verb) (whence Middle French embusche (noun)), from Old French en- + Vulgar Latin boscus (“wood”) (whence also bouquet), from Frankish *busk (“bush”), from Proto-Germanic *buskaz (“bush, heavy stick”). Compare ambuscade. The change to am- from earlier forms in en- is unexplained. More at bush.

Keep exploring: in the interactive dictionary every word of a definition is a link. Open “ambush” there

More English words

About this dictionary

The English dictionary on Glottosphere has 650,529 entries with a page. Browse the English dictionary.

Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.