ambuscade
Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
- noun An ambush.
- transitive verb To attack suddenly and without warning from a concealed place; ambush.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- noun A body of troops lying in ambush.
Examples
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Wherefore, then, did he steal in ambuscade into my palace, but to betray either my honor or my life, – perhaps both!
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The Amalekites and Canaanites, who had been lying in ambuscade expecting their movement, rushed down upon them from the heights and became the instruments of punishing their guilty rebellion.
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Lord Beaufort surprised them by a clever ambuscade from the stable wall; he told Mary he had been quite mistaken and wrong in what he had asserted, and he was sorry that she had overheard it.
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Mr Campion shuddered to think of the kind of ambuscade Uncle William might have arranged had he ever conceived the idea of such a method of shelving the suspicion against him.
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It was a troubled time, with the world upside down, and we scratching with our fingernails to hold the Ruskis back by foray and ambuscade; in such disorders, anything is possible, even a woman fighting-chief.
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But when the occasion presented itself, there was suddenly seen to emerge from all this shadow, as from an ambuscade, a narrow and angular forehead, a baleful glance, a threatening chin, enormous hands, and a monstrous cudgel.
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If I can catch this knave alive, who, as thou sayest, skulks in stealthy ambuscade and plots his mischief, I will impale him at the outlet of the gates and set him up for vultures of the air to make their meal upon.
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Durward could form no better or safer plan for their security, than that, evading the ambuscade, they should take the road to Liege by the left hand of the Maes, and throw themselves, as the ladies originally designed, upon the protection of the excellent Bishop.
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The rising of birds in their flight is the sign of an ambuscade.
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When I come over next year to give away the bride, or whenever I come, I shall have the sense to keep the household brigade in ambuscade and not to manoeuvre it on your ground.
Note
The word 'ambuscade' was borrowed from French, and is related to 'ambush', which comes from a Latin word meaning 'in wood' or 'in bushes'.
