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.
tr.v.
am·bushed, am·bush·ing, am·bush·es To attack from a concealed position.
[Middle English embush, from Old French embusche, from embuschier, to ambush, from Frankish *boscu, bush, woods.] am'bush'er n.
Synonyms: These verbs mean to attack suddenly and without warning from a concealed place: guerrillas ambushing a platoon; highway robbers ambuscading a stagecoach; a patrol bushwhacked by poachers; a truck waylaid by robbers.
[am-boo
sh] 