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AMBUSHMENT

 - 2 dictionary results

am⋅bush

  [am-boosh]
Use AMBUSHMENT in a Sentence
–noun Also, am⋅bush⋅ment.
1. an act or instance of lying concealed so as to attack by surprise: The highwaymen waited in ambush near the road.
2. an act or instance of attacking unexpectedly from a concealed position.
3. the concealed position itself: They fired from ambush.
4. those who attack suddenly and unexpectedly from a concealed position.
–verb (used with object)
5. to attack from ambush.
Origin:
1250–1300; (v.) ME enbuss(h)en < MF embuschier to place men in ambush, lit., to set in the woods, equiv. to em- im- 1 + busch- (< VL *busca wood, forest < Gmc *busk- heavy stick) + -ier inf. suffix; (n.) earlier enbusshe < MF embusche, deriv. of the v.

Related forms:
am⋅bush⋅er, noun
am⋅bush⋅like, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Word Origin & History

ambush  (v.)
c.1300, from O.Fr. embuscher "to lay an ambush," from en- "in" + busch "wood," apparently from Frank. *busk "bush, woods" (see bush). Variant form ambuscade (1582) was reborrowed from Fr., sometimes ambuscado, with faux Sp. ending popular in Eng. 17c.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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