AMBUSCADE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does ambuscade mean? 

• AMBUSCADE (noun)
  The noun AMBUSCADE has 1 sense:

1. the act of concealing yourself and lying in wait to attack by surprise

  Familiarity information: AMBUSCADE used as a noun is very rare.

• AMBUSCADE (verb)
  The verb AMBUSCADE has 1 sense:

1. wait in hiding to attack

  Familiarity information: AMBUSCADE used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• AMBUSCADE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of concealing yourself and lying in wait to attack by surprise

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

ambuscade; ambush; lying in wait; trap

Hypernyms ("ambuscade" is a kind of...):

coup de main; surprise attack (an attack without warning)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "ambuscade"):

dry-gulching (the act of killing from ambush)

Derivation:

ambuscade (wait in hiding to attack)

• AMBUSCADE (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Wait in hiding to attack

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Synonyms:

ambuscade; ambush; bushwhack; lie in wait; lurk; scupper; waylay

Hypernyms (to "ambuscade" is one way to...):

wait (stay in one place and anticipate or expect something)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

ambuscade (the act of concealing yourself and lying in wait to attack by surprise)

 Context examples 

Inspector Baynes, considering that such a visit must have some purpose in view and was likely, therefore, to be repeated, abandoned the house but left an ambuscade in the shrubbery.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was past eleven o’clock when we formed our little ambuscade.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

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.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)