The Collaborative International Dictionary
Hospital \Hos"pi*tal\, n. [OF. hospital, ospital, F. h[^o]pital, LL. hospitale (or perh. E. hospital is directly from the Late Latin), from L. hospitalis relating to a guest, hospitalia apartments for guests, fr. hospes guest. See Host a landlord, and cf. Hostel, Hotel, Spital.]
A place for shelter or entertainment; an inn. [Obs.]
--Spenser.-
A building in which the sick, injured, or infirm are received and treated; a public or private institution founded for reception and cure, or for the refuge, of persons diseased in body or mind, or disabled, infirm, or dependent, and in which they are treated either at their own expense, or more often by charity in whole or in part; a tent, building, or other place where the sick or wounded of an army cared for.
Hospital ship, a vessel fitted up for a floating hospital.
Hospital Sunday, a Sunday set apart for simultaneous contribution in churches to hospitals; as, the London Hospital Sunday.
Wiktionary
n. A large ship that is intended to serve as a mobile hospital with appropriate equipment and personnel.
WordNet
n. a ship built to serve as a hospital; used for wounded in wartime
Wikipedia
A hospital ship is a ship designated for primary function as a floating medical treatment facility or hospital. Most are operated by the military forces (mostly navies) of various countries, as they are intended to be used in or near war zones.
Although attacking a hospital ship is a war crime, belligerent navies have the right to board such ships for inspections.
Usage examples of "hospital ship".
There'll be a hospital ship here within a week, two at the outside.
Maybe now they'll be feeling like taking those gloves off, I shouldn't imagine that Admiral Doenitz will take too kindly to the idea of one of his U-boats having been sunk by a hospital ship.
After, when he woke on the hospital ship, he was told by the ward physician that he'd gone into shock, possibly morphine shock, and nearly died.
At Lock Five the Kelgian hospital ship was ready to go, waiting only for some of the hospital's senior staff to go aboard and for a Monitor ship to escort them out to a safe jump distance.
Joe's life was in a far distant place than it had been in a year before, when he was taken off the hospital ship in Boston.