ambulance

Etymology

Recorded from 1798 in the sense “mobile or field hospital”;^[1] the OED and Merriam-Webster date it to 1809.^[2][3] It is borrowed from French ambulance, which replaced hôpital ambulant “walking hospital”,^[2][4] from Latin ambulāns (“walking”), present participle of Latin ambulāre (“to walk, go about”).^[5][1]

The word became common in English when its sense moved from “field hospital” to “vehicle carrying the wounded from the field” during the Crimean War,^[1][2] and in the early 20th century it was extended to civilian vehicles.^[1] Compare amble.^[1]

Noun

ambulance

1. A vehicle equipped to carry sick or injured people, usually to a hospital.^[5][3][6][4]
2. (historical) A mobile field hospital that follows an army.^[2][6][4]

Verb

ambulance

1. To carry by ambulance.^[4]

References

1. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
2. [1] [2] [3] [4] Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. [1] [2] Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. [1] [2] [3] [4] Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
5. [1] [2] The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Boston: Houghton Mifflin
6. [1] [2] Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House