Search

an ambush.
to lie in ambush.
to attack from a concealed position; ambush.
Historical Examples

They had now reached a place formed by nature for an ambuscade, where the Trasimenus comes nearest to the mountains of Cortona.
The History of Rome; Books Nine to Twenty-Six Titus Livius

Here a thousand Indians had planted themselves in ambuscade.
King Philip John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot) Abbott

Then, with a motion almost elegant, he dropt his right hand lightly into his coat-pocket, where it lay still in ambuscade.
The House by the Church-Yard J. Sheridan Le Fanu

But the darkness, which had favored the ambuscade, now defeated their object.
The Night Riders Ridgwell Cullum

Murray lodged in the town during the night, and Hamilton posted himself in his ambuscade the next morning, armed with a gun.
Mary Queen of Scots, Makers of History Jacob Abbott

The ambuscade of the Ant-lion is classic; it does not differ greatly from the others.
The Industries of Animals Frdric Houssay

Then Gessi laid his ambuscade for Sultan Idris, who marched into the trap prepared for him.
The Life of Gordon, Volume II Demetrius Charles Boulger

He has deepened the gloom about his ambuscade and he has succeeded in part.
Napoleon the Little Victor Hugo

George Shepherd was sent out on the road toward Harrisonville, south of the ambuscade.
Life and adventures of Frank and Jesse James J. A. Dacus

Those devils of Indians have a peculiar talent for forming an ambuscade.
The Tiger-Slayer Gustave Aimard

noun
an ambush
verb
to ambush or lie in ambush
n.

1580s, essentially a variant form of ambush (n.), representing a reborrowing of that French word after it had been Italianized. Ambuscade is from French embuscade (16c.), Gallicized from Italian imboscata, literally “a hiding in the bush,” compounded from the same elements as Old French embuscher. Sometimes in English as ambuscado, with faux Spanish ending of the sort popular in 17c.