ambulance

AM-byuh-luhns/ˈæm.bjə.ləns/

Pluralambulances

Verbambulances, ambulancing, ambulanced

6 meanings of ambulance

1
nouncountable
A special vehicle that quickly takes hurt or very sick people to a hospital.
Like a small hospital room on wheels that rushes to people in trouble.
An ambulance arrived within minutes of the crash.
They called an ambulance when grandpa collapsed.
2
verbtransitive
To carry a sick or hurt person somewhere using an ambulance.
Rescuers had to ambulance the boy to the city hospital.
They ambulanced her to safety after the fall.
Similarevacuate, transport
Note
3
nouncountable
A medical unit that moves with an army to treat wounded soldiers near the fighting.
Like a hospital that packs up and moves to wherever the soldiers are fighting.
The army set up an ambulance in the village to treat the wounded.
Surgeons worked through the night at the ambulance near the front.
Note
4
nounUKcountable
A vehicle used to carry dead bodies, usually to a place where the dead are kept.
Like a special van whose job is to carry people who have died.
The ambulance took the body away to the mortuary.
An ambulance was sent to collect the deceased from the home.
Note

Less common meanings

5
nounobsoleteUK
A flat frame with handles, used to carry a hurt person who cannot walk.
Similarstretcher
Note
6
nounobsoleteUS
A wagon with a cloth or canvas top, pulled by animals, used to carry people and goods.
Like a big cart with a cloth roof that pioneers used to travel long distances.
The family loaded their belongings into the ambulance and set out west.
Oxen pulled the ambulance slowly across the open plains.
Note

Practice

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Origin

From French ambulance. It comes from Latin ambulō, meaning "to walk," and once meant "moving hospital."