ambush

Pluralambushes

Formsambushes, ambushing, ambushed

1. 1
   surprise attacknouncountable

   An attack that comes from a place where the attackers were hiding.

   Two soldiers were hurt in an ambush on the mountain road.

   Dad walked into a snowball ambush as soon as he opened the front door.

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2. 2
   verbtransitive

   To hide and wait for someone, then attack them by surprise.

   The kids hid behind the car to ambush their friends with water balloons.

   Reporters ambushed the singer as she left the hotel.

   Similarjump

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3. 3
   lying in waitnoununcountable

   A hidden place, or the state of being hidden, from which someone makes a surprise attack.

   The cat waited in ambush under the bed for the dog to walk by.

   Robbers lay in ambush beside the road, waiting for travelers.

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4. 4
   lying in waitnouncountable or uncountable

   Hiding and waiting so that you can attack or kill someone by surprise.

   Many snakes hunt by ambush, staying still for hours until a mouse comes close.

   The boys' ambush behind the fence lasted an hour, but their sister never came outside.

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5. 5
   hidden attackersnouncountable

   The soldiers or other people who hide and wait to make a surprise attack.

   When the leader whistled, the whole ambush jumped up from the tall grass.

   In our game, the ambush hid behind the shed while the other team searched the yard.

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6. 6
   place troopsverbtransitive

   To put people in a hiding place so they can surprise an enemy.

   By ambuſh’d men, behind their Temple laid, / VVe have the King of Mexico betray’d.

   1665, John Dryden, The Indian EmperourHere, ambushed men means men placed in a hidden spot to surprise an enemy.

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