Amber Alert

or AMBER Alert

noun

a public alert system that spreads information about missing persons by using the broadcast media and electronic billboards on highways.

a public message or announcement that uses this system.

Origin of Amber Alert

acronym from America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response; named after Amber Hagerman, a girl kidnapped and murdered in Texas in 1996

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

British Dictionary definitions for amber alert

Amber alert

noun

US and Canadian a notification to the general public, such as by commercial radio or electronic traffic-condition signs, regarding an abduction of a child

Word Origin for Amber alert

C20: named after Amber Hagerman, a child who was abducted and murdered in 1996 in Arlington, Texas

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012