am·bush
ˈam-ˌbu̇sh
ambushed; ambushing; ambushes
1
: to attack by surprise from a hidden place : waylay
Our troops ambushed the enemy units.
… his caravan that season had been ambushed and shot at twice on the way down …—Rudyard Kipling
2
: to station in ambush (see ambush entry 2 sense 2)
Mr and Mrs Fyne ambushed at their window—a most incredible occupation for people of their kind—saw with renewed anxiety a cab come to the door.—Joseph Conrad
: to lie in wait : lurk
ambusher
noun
plural ambushes
1
: a trap in which one or more concealed attackers lie in wait to attack by surprise
soldiers caught in an ambush
Suddenly a shout comes down the line: "Contact front!" It's an ambush, with gunmen on both sides of the road.—Lev Grossman
… it is plain he must have been as stupid with weariness as myself, and looked as little where we were going, or we should not have walked into an ambush like blind men.—Robert Louis Stevenson
2
: the concealed position from which a surprise attack is made
a group of soldiers lying in ambush
… tanks alone are vulnerable to opposing infantry with antitank weapons, particularly at night when the infantry can more easily wait in ambush or approach unseen.—Neil Sheehan
also
: an individual or group concealed for a surprise attack
All was then dead silence; for, loquacious as he was on other occasions, Captain Dalgetty knew well the necessity of an ambush keeping itself under covert. —Robert Burns
3
: the act of approaching or confronting someone with something unexpected
—often used before another noun
ambush journalism
… did not return calls or e-mails and was hostile when a television crew conducted an ambush interview several years ago.—Neely Tucker
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Merriam-Webster unabridged
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