Ambush
noun, verb ·2 syllables ·Moderate ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 The act of concealing oneself and lying in wait to attack or kill by surprise.
- 2 the act of concealing yourself and lying in wait to attack by surprise wordnet
- 3 An attack launched from a concealed position.
"Heaven, whose high walls fear no assault or siege / Or ambush from the deep."
- 4 The concealed position or state from which a surprise attack is launched.
"the Georgean hills, Whoſe tops are couered with Tartarian theeues, That lie in ambuſh, waiting for a pray:"
- 5 The troops posted in a concealed place, for attacking by surprise; those who lie in wait.
"And the ambush arose quickly out of their place, and they ranne as soone as he had stretched out his hand: and they entred into the city, and tooke it, and hasted, and set the citie on fire."
- 1 To station in ambush with a view to surprise an enemy. transitive
"By ambuſh’d men, behind their Temple laid, / VVe have the King of Mexico betray’d."
- 2 wait in hiding to attack wordnet
- 3 To attack by ambush; to waylay. transitive
"The contrast with the start was profound. In the opening 40 minutes Löw’s team had been ambushed here, the world champions run into a state of breathless trauma by a thrillingly vibrant Mexico attack."
- 4 hunt (quarry) by stalking and ambushing wordnet
Example
More examples"He lay prostrate, ready to ambush the invaders."
Etymology
From Middle English enbuschen, from Old French enbuscier, anbuchier (verb) (whence Middle French embusche (noun)), from Old French en- + Vulgar Latin boscus (“wood”) (whence also bouquet), from Frankish *busk (“bush”), from Proto-Germanic *buskaz (“bush, heavy stick”). Compare ambuscade. The change to am- from earlier forms in en- is unexplained. More at bush.
Related phrases
More for "ambush"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.