ambuscade

[ am-buh-skeyd, am-buh-skeyd ]

noun

1. an ambush.

verb (used without object)

, am·bus·cad·ed, am·bus·cad·ing.

1. to lie in ambush.

verb (used with object)

, am·bus·cad·ed, am·bus·cad·ing.

1. to attack from a concealed position; ambush.

ambuscade

/ ˌæmbəˈskeɪd /

noun

1. an ambush

verb

1. to ambush or lie in ambush

Other Words From

• ambus·cader noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of ambuscade¹

1575–85; < Middle French embuscade, alteration (under influence of Old French embuschier; ambush ) of Middle French emboscade < Old Italian imboscata, feminine past participle of imboscare, verbal derivative with in- in- ² of bosco wood, forest < Germanic *bosk- bush ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of ambuscade¹

C16: from French embuscade, from Old Italian imboscata, probably of Germanic origin; compare ambush

Example Sentences

There is a patience of the wild—dogged, tireless, persistent as life itself—that holds motionless for endless hours the spider in its web, the snake in its coils, the panther in its ambuscade; this patience belongs peculiarly to life when it hunts its living food; and it belonged to Buck as he clung to the flank of the herd, retarding its march, irritating the young bulls, worrying the cows with their half-grown calves, and driving the wounded bull mad with helpless rage.

From Literature

She gives us several clues: The flower has an “ambuscade” of “briar and leaf”—in other words a tangle of thorny branches—and a lustrous cheek “belted” by green sepals.

From Slate

The boat was then sent on board of her, and she proved to be the Ambuscade man of war, to my no small disappointment.

From Slate

The rising of birds in their flight is the sign of an ambuscade.

From Forbes

Had this plot failed, d’Alfaro had arranged another for an ambuscade on the road to Castelnaudary, and the fact that so extensive a conspiracy could be organized on the spot, without finding a traitor to betray it, shows how general was the hate that had been earned by the cruel work of the Inquisition.

From Project Gutenberg