hospital
UK /ˈhɒs.pɪ.tl̩/ · US /ˈhɑs.pɪ.tl̩/ noun, adjective, proper noun
Forms hospitals hospitale
- noun A large medical facility, usually in a building with multiple floors, where seriously ill or injured patients are given extensive medical or surgical treatment. “Luckily an ambulance arrived quickly and he was rushed to hospital.”
- noun (archaic) A building founded for the long-term care of its residents, such as an almshouse. “The foundling hospital took in abandoned children and educated them.”
- noun (obsolete) A place of lodging.
- adjective (obsolete) Hospitable.
- proper noun A surname.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English hospital, hospitall, from Old French hospital (Modern French hôpital), from Late Latin hospitālis, hospitāle (“hospice, shelter, guesthouse”), from noun use of Latin hospitālis (“hospitable”), from hospes (“host, guest”). Doublet of hotel and hostel. Displaced native Middle English lechehous, from Old English lǣċehūs (literally “doctor house”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun A place for shelter or entertainment; an inn. [Obs.] Spenser.
- noun 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.
- adjective Hospitable. [Obs.] Howell.
Etymology [OF. hospital, ospital, F. hôpital, 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.]
Etymology [L. hospitalis: cf. OF. hospital.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “hospital”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details