ambulance

noun

am·​bu·​lance ˈam-byə-lən(t)s 

-bə-,

 also  -ˌlan(t)s

: a vehicle equipped for transporting the injured or sick

Examples of ambulance in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

More than 7,000 residents were wounded, ambulance service spokesman Osama Ali told NBC News. —Patrick Smith, NBC News, 14 Sep. 2023

Attendees will get to see members of the county’s special operations team rappel from the roof of the 911 center, the equipment used inside an ambulance and other demonstrations. —Jason Fontelieu, Baltimore Sun, 14 Sep. 2023

Besides the footage, The News' open requests of the city of Allen and Allen police include ambulance and rescue vehicle runs, a full incident report and other police documents pertaining to the shooting. —Jamie Landers The Dallas Morning News (tns), Arkansas Online, 12 Sep. 2023

Derna’s ambulance authority put the current death toll at 2,300. —Samy Magdy, The Christian Science Monitor, 12 Sep. 2023

Fabián immediately called an ambulance, which brought her to University of Chicago Medicine Comer Children’s Hospital. —Nell Salzman, Chicago Tribune, 10 Sep. 2023

Her husband would have to go by ambulance in the middle of the raging snowstorm. —Tom Hallman, oregonlive, 2 Sep. 2023

The facility is a critical delivery point for ambulances transporting patients suffering strokes and other time-critical maladies. —Paul Sisson, San Diego Union-Tribune, 1 Sep. 2023

The team would have to wait for an ambulance to make it there through the snow. —Tom Hallman, oregonlive, 2 Sep. 2023

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Word History

Etymology

earlier, "mobile medical facility following troops in the field, corps of surgeons and assistants caring for wounded soldiers in the field," borrowed from French, from ambulant "mobile, itinerant" (borrowed from Latin ambulant-, ambulans, present participle of ambulāre "to go on foot, travel") + -ance -ance — more at amble entry 1

Note: As a name for a vehicle, in part short for ambulance wag(g)on and other collocations, probably after French wagon-ambulance, voiture d'ambulance, etc.

First Known Use

1825, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing ambulance

• ambulance chaser
• by ambulance

• ambulance chaser
• by ambulance

Kids Definition

ambulance

noun

am·​bu·​lance ˈam-byə-lən(t)s 

: a vehicle that is equipped for transporting the injured or the sick

Etymology

from French ambulance "field hospital," from (hôpital) ambulant, literally "traveling hospital," derived from Latin ambulare "to walk" — related to amble

Word Origin

When the term ambulance first came into use, it did not refer to a vehicle. To meet the urgent needs of the wounded during war, the French about 200 years ago set up temporary movable hospitals close to the battlefields. They called such a hospital hôpital ambulant, meaning literally "walking hospital." The French adjective ambulant can be traced back to the Latin verb ambulare, meaning "to walk." In time the French dropped the word hôpital from the phrase and changed the adjective to the noun ambulance. This word was also later applied to the wagon used for transporting the wounded to the field hospital. Before long, the word ambulance came to be used for civilian temporary hospitals set up during emergencies and also for the vehicles used to take the sick and injured to the hospital. English borrowed the word from French to refer to such vehicles.

Medical Definition

ambulance

noun

am·​bu·​lance

ˈam-b(y)ə-lən(t)s also -ˌlan(t)s

: a vehicle equipped for transporting the injured or sick