# ambush

Pronunciation: say "AM-buush" /ˈæm.bʊʃ/

## Noun

1. An attack launched on someone or something from a hidden position.
   - Simple: An attack that comes from a place where the attackers were hiding.
   - _Three police officers were wounded in an ambush outside the village last night._
   - _A leopard's ambush from the tall grass is usually over in seconds._
3. A hidden position, or the state of being hidden, from which a surprise attack is launched.
   - Simple: A hidden place, or the state of being hidden, from which someone makes a surprise attack.
   - _Photographers waited in ambush outside the hotel, hoping to catch the actor leaving through the back door._
   - _A crocodile can lie in ambush just below the surface for hours._
4. The act of hiding and lying in wait in order to attack or kill someone by surprise.
   - Simple: Hiding and waiting so that you can attack or kill someone by surprise.
   - _Tigers rely on ambush rather than long chases, creeping close under cover before they strike._
   - _The rebels' ambush along the ridge lasted until dawn, but the patrol never came._
5. The troops posted out of sight to attack by surprise, or more generally anyone lying in wait.
   - Simple: The soldiers or other people who hide and wait to make a surprise attack.
   - _The ambush held its fire until the lead vehicle had crossed the bridge._
   - _Scouts warned the column that an ambush of fifty men was waiting in the woods._

## Verb

2. To make a surprise attack on someone or something from a place where the attackers have been lying in wait.
   - Simple: To hide and wait for someone, then attack them by surprise.
   - _Insurgents ambush supply trucks on that stretch of highway almost every week._
   - _A fearless young team ambushed the world champions in the opening twenty minutes._
6. To station people in a hidden position so that they can surprise an enemy.
   - Simple: To put people in a hiding place so they can surprise an enemy.

## Origin

From Middle English enbuschen, from Old French enbuscier or anbuchier, formed from en- plus Vulgar Latin boscus ('wood', also the source of bouquet), which came from Frankish *busk ('bush') and ultimately Proto-Germanic *buskaz ('bush, heavy stick'). Why the earlier en- forms changed to am- is unexplained.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/ambush (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).