What is "ambulance"

Ambulance \Am"bu*lance\, n. [F. ambulance, h[^o]pital ambulant, fr. L. ambulare to walk. See Amble.] (Mil.)

1. A field hospital, so organized as to follow an army in its movements, and intended to succor the wounded as soon as possible. Often used adjectively; as, an ambulance wagon; ambulance stretcher; ambulance corps.

2. An ambulance wagon or cart for conveying the wounded from the field, or to a hospital.

1798, "mobile or field hospital," from French (hôpital) ambulant, literally "walking (hospital)," from Latin ambulantem (nominative ambulans), present participle of ambulare "to walk" (see amble).\n\nAMBULANCE, s. f. a moveable hospital. These were houses constructed in a manner so as to be taken to pieces, and carried from place to place, according to the movements of the army; and served as receptacles in which the sick and wounded men might be received and attended.

["Lexicographica-Neologica Gallica" (The Neological French Dictionary), William Dupré, London, 1801]

n. 1 An emergency vehicle that transports sick or injured people to a hospital. 2 (context military English) A mobile field hospital.

n. a vehicle that takes people to and from hospitals

An ambulance is a vehicle for transportation of sick or injured people to, from or between places of treatment for an illness or injury, and in some instances will also provide out of hospital medical care to the patient. The word is often associated with road going emergency ambulances which form part of an emergency medical service, administering emergency care to those with acute medical problems.

The term ambulance does, however, extend to a wider range of vehicles other than those with flashing warning lights and sirens. The term also includes a large number of non-urgent ambulances which are for transport of patients without an urgent acute condition (see below: Functional types) and a wide range of urgent and non-urgent vehicles including trucks, vans, bicycles, motorbikes, station wagons, buses, helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft, boats, and even hospital ships (see below: Vehicle types).

The term ambulance comes from the Latin word "ambulare" as meaning "to walk or move about" which is a reference to early medical care where patients were moved by lifting or wheeling. The word originally meant a moving hospital, which follows an army in its movements. Ambulances ( Ambulancias in Spanish ) were first used for emergency transport in 1487 by the Spanish forces during the siege of Málaga by the Catholic Monarchs against the Emirate of Granada. During the American Civil War vehicles for conveying the wounded off the field of battle were called ambulance wagons. Field hospitals were still called ambulances during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 and in the Serbo-Turkish war of 1876 even though the wagons were first referred to as ambulances about 1854 during the Crimean War.

There are other types of ambulance, with the most common being the patient transport ambulance (sometimes called an ambulette). These vehicles are not usually (although there are exceptions) equipped with life-support equipment, and are usually crewed by staff with fewer qualifications than the crew of emergency ambulances. Their purpose is simply to transport patients to, from or between places of treatment. In most countries, these are not equipped with flashing lights or sirens. In some jurisdictions there is a modified form of the ambulance used, that only carries one member of ambulance crew to the scene to provide care, but is not used to transport the patient. Such vehicles are called fly-cars. In these cases a patient who requires transportation to hospital will require a patient-carrying ambulance to attend in addition to the fast responder.

Ambulance or Ambulance Car is a computer virus that infected computers running a DOS operating system in June 1990. It was discovered in Germany.

An ambulance is a vehicle designated for the transport of sick or injured people.

Ambulance may also refer to:

• Ambulance (computer virus), a computer virus infecting the DOS operating system
• Ambulance LTD, an American indie rock band
• The Ambulance, a 1990 thriller film starring Eric Roberts and James Earl Jones
• Ambulance, a band with releases on the Planet Mu label
• "Ambulance", a 1997 song by Grinspoon, B-side to the single "Repeat"
• "Ambulance", a 2003 song by Blur from Think Tank
• "Ambulance", a 2004 song by TV on the Radio from Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes
• "Ambulance", a 2011 song by Eisley from The Valley
• "Ambulances", a 2011 song by Ladytron from Gravity the Seducer
• Ambulances, a 1961 poem by Philip Larkin