hospital
[hos-pi-tl]
- an institution in which sick or injured persons are given medical or surgical treatment.
- a similar establishment for the care of animals.
- a repair shop for specific portable objects: violin hospital; doll hospital.
- British. an institution supported by charity or taxes for the care of the needy, as an orphanage or old people's home.
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Origin of hospital
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for hospital
Contemporary Examples
When the father arrived at the hospital, he was told that Andrew Dossi was in surgery, but the wounds were not life-threatening.
By the time the ambulance arrived, over 10 minutes later, it was too late—Mills died soon after arriving at the hospital.
“The Center was actually able to get me into the hospital and get me the new medications that were available,” Thom said.
Liu had been married just two months before and his wife now stood in this Brooklyn hospital, a sudden widow because of a madman.
Both Mayor De Blasio and Police Commissioner William Bratton rushed to the hospital.
Historical Examples
They looked from the windows of the hospital, and from the roofs of houses.
The Grand Old ManRichard B. Cook
If only the house was her own, that she might turn it into a hospital!
Weighed and WantingGeorge MacDonald
She could not bring herself at first to tell him about the hospital.
KMary Roberts Rinehart
Closer to her than the hospital was life in the raw that night.
KMary Roberts Rinehart
The only dread she had was of the discovery of her escapade by the hospital authorities.
KMary Roberts Rinehart
hospital
- an institution for the medical, surgical, obstetric, or psychiatric care and treatment of patients
- (modifier) having the function of a hospitala hospital ship
- a repair shop for something specifieda dolls' hospital
- archaic a charitable home, hospice, or school
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Word Origin
C13: from Medieval Latin hospitāle hospice, from Latin hospitālis relating to a guest, from hospes, hospit- guest, host 1
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for hospital
n.
mid-13c., "shelter for the needy," from Old French hospital, ospital "hostel" (Modern French hôpital), from Late Latin hospitale "guest-house, inn," neuter of Latin adjective hospitalis "of a guest or host," from hospes (genitive hospitis); see host (n.1). Later "charitable institution to house and maintain the needy" (early 15c.); sense of "institution for sick people" is first recorded 1540s.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
hospital
(hŏs′pĭ-tl)- An institution that provides medical, surgical, or psychiatric care and treatment for the sick or the injured.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.