▪ I. ambush, n.
(ˈæmbʊʃ)
Forms: 5–6 enbusshe, embushe, 6– ambush. Occas. weakened in 4– to abush, 'bush.
[a. OFr. embusche, f. vb. embuscher: see ambush v. Nearly equivalent words from the pa. pple. of Fr., Sp., It., are enbuschy, ambuscado, ambuscade, emboscata, imboscata. The change from em- to am- (which appears to have begun with this word c 1550, and thence extended to its cognates, including even embuscade from Fr.) is not accounted for; it was perh. due to the influence of words like ambages.]
1. strictly. A military disposition consisting of troops concealed in a wood or other place, in order to surprise and fall unexpectedly upon an enemy. The ambush is the entire strategic arrangement or trap; but sometimes the posture, sometimes the place, sometimes the troops, are the prominent part of the idea. Often in phr. to make, construct, lay an ambush; lie in ambush. (As a formal military term ambuscade is now used.)
| [c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 2887 Þan schullaþ our men..breken out of þe bossche.] |
| 1489 Caxton Faytes of Armes i. i. 4 And made an enbusshe for the better to vaynquisshe theym. 1560 Bible (Genev.) 1 Macc. ix. 40 (1590) Then Ionathans men that lay in ambush rose vp. 1600 Hakluyt Voy. III. 406 The inhabitants of this Isle..layed an ambush for him. 1653 Holcroft Procopius 109 He layd ambushes upon the way, to cut them off as they fled. 1776 M{supc}Intosh in Sparks Corr. Am. Rev. I. 168, I placed..ambushes in the different roads leading to it. 1870 Bryant Homer I. vi. 191 He chose..The bravest men to be in ambush for him. |
† 2. The force (pl. troops) so disposed, liers in wait. Obs.
| 1489 Caxton Faytes of Armes i. xvi. 48 Sawted on the sydes by som embushe. 1587 Myrr. for Mag., Albanact xiii. 1 By night the ambushe..Came forth from woods. 1653 Holcroft Procopius iii. 111 The Ambushes rose, and put themselves between them and the Town. |
3. Any disposition of persons (or of a single person) lying in wait.
| [c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 659 This Palamon Was in a busshe [v.r. bosch] that no man myhte hym se.] |
| 1573 Twyne æneid vii. (R.) In secret ambush I, in yonder wood..my selfe entend to hide. 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, i. i. 137 Once I did lay an ambush for your life. 1747 Gray Ode to Eton Coll. lviii, Show them where in ambush stand To seize their prey, the murth'rous band! |
4. fig.
| 1592 Greene Groatsw. Wit (1617) 13 That rich ambush of amber colored darts [a Lady's hair], whose points are leueld against his heart. 1633 Herbert Ch. Milit. 66 in Temple 185 Who by an ambush lost his Paradise. 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. i. ix. 22 Lest some unseen ambushes should surprise his conscience. 1751 Johnson Rambl. No 183 ¶6 He that perishes in the ambushes of envy. 1852 H. Rogers Ess I vii. 395 To forewarn the mind itself of the points in which an ambush of error may be suspected. |
¶ By confusion for ambages.
| 1602 W. Fulbecke 1st Pt. Parall. 76 For the more ful & forcible destruction of delayes & ambushes in pleading. |
▪ II. ambush, v.
(ˈæmbʊʃ)
Forms: α. 4 enbusse, inbuche, 4–5 enbusshe, 5 embuisshe, 4–6 enbusche, 5–6 embusshe, 6–7 embush, 7– ambush. Also β. 4 abusse, abusche; γ. 4 busse, 6 busche, 7 bush.
[a. OFr. embusche-r, embuissier, cogn. w. Sp. embuscar, It. imboscare:—late L. *inboscāre, f. in in + bosc-us wood, bush, i.e. to place in a wood, or among the bushes. For change to am- bef. 1600, see prec. Accented amˈbush as late as 17th c.; already in 14th the toneless en- was treated like OE. prefix an-, becoming ă-, and then falling away: enˈbush, ăˈbush, 'bush. In 16th c. there was a by-form imbosque, a. It. imboscāre.]
1. To dispose troops in concealment among bushes, or elsewhere, so as to take an enemy by surprise; to place in ambush; to lay in wait. Obs. or arch., exc. in pa. pple. ambushed.
| α 1330 R. Brunne Chron. 187 Alle þat suerd mot bere, Were sette R[ichard] to dere, enbussed þorgh þe feld. c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 2879 Do þat þaye in-buched beo..In þe wode þat þow miȝt see. c 1450 Merlin xxii. 404 Sir Gawein and his felowes were enbusshed. 1483 Caxton G. de la Tour F viij, The paynyms whiche nyghe were embusshed. 1513 Douglas æneis xi. x. 84 Thare lay ane vale in ane crukit glen, Ganand for slicht to enbusche armit men. 1580 Sidney Arcadia iii. (1622) 250 [We] embushed his footmen in the falling of a hill. 1624 Heywood Gunaik. iv. 207 These hee ambushes in divers places. 1725 Pope Odyss. iv. 602 Ambush'd we lie, and wait the bold emprize. |
| β c 1300 Beket 1382 He him abussed there. c 1350 Will. Palerne 3634 A fersche ost..a-buschid þer bi-side. |
| γ 1330 R. Brunne Chron. 187 Saladyn prively was bussed beside þe flom. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. I. 263 The Pechtis than was buschit neir hand by. 1623 Daniel Hymen's Tri. ii. i, Being closely bush'd a pretty distance off. |
b. refl. Obs. exc. as in 1.
| c 1300 Beket 1382 Seint Thomas was..in huding, as hit were, In the hows of Seint Bertin, for he him abussede there. 1375 Barbour Bruce vi. 396 Neir thar-by He him enbuschit preuely. c 1450 Merlin xvii, Ye and I shull go..and enbussh us there. c 1530 Ld. Berners Arthur Lyt. Bryt. 177 Syr Isembartes cosyn embusshed him in a great forest. 1572 R. H. Lavaterus's Ghostes 86 That he shoulde embush himself behinde the wood. 1637 Heywood Dialogues 287 Here on the top of the mount Ericine Ambush thy selfe. 1814 Scott Ld. of Isles v. xvi, To ambush us in greenwood bough. |
2. intr. (refl. pron. omitted) To lie down in ambush; lie in wait, lurk.
| 1626 Shirley Brothers iv. ii, Now you know where to ambush. 1742 Young Nt. Th. v. 826 Behind the rosy bloom he loves to lurk, Or ambush in a smile. 1855 M. Arnold Memory Pict. 28 The archest chin Mockery ever ambush'd in. 1859 H. Kingsley G. Hamlyn II. 179 A wicked kitten, who ambushes round the corner of the flower-bed. |
3. trans. To waylay, attack from an ambush.
| 1631 Heywood England's Eliz. (1641) To Reader 1 The criticks of this age, who with their frivolous cavils..ambush the commendable labours of others. 1780 Clinton in Sparks Corr. Am. Rev. (1853) I. 135 This party were ambushed by the enemy, and defeated. 1881 Daily News 26 Mar. 2/5 It was admitted that Mr. L. had ambushed him at midnight. |