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hospital Definition

hos·pi·tal (häspit′'l)

noun

  1. Obsolete
    1. a place of shelter and rest for travelers, etc.
    2. a charitable institution for providing and caring for the aged, infirm, orphaned, etc.: now only in names
  2. an institution providing medical, surgical, or psychiatric testing and treatment for people who are ill, injured, pregnant, etc. on an inpatient, outpatient, or emergency care basis: often involved with public health programs, research, medical education, etc.: in British English, usually without an article when preceded by a preposition
  3. Informal a repair shop for dolls, clocks, or other small items

Etymology: ME < OFr < LL hospitale, a house, inn < L (cubiculum) hospitale, guest (room), neut. of hospitalis, of a guest < hospes: see hospice

hospital Synonyms

hospital

n.

clinic, infirmary, sanatorium, sanitarium, dispensary, Red Cross hospital, VA hospital, mental hospital, army hospital, city hospital, public hospital, ship's hospital, veteran's hospital, institution for the physically sick, hospital for the mentally sick, medical center, treatment center, rehabilitation center, valetudinarium, lying-in hospital, health service, outpatient ward, sick bay, detox*, sick house*, repair shop*, croaker joint*.

Medical terms and abbreviations commonly used by hospitals include: acute respiratory disease (ARD), barium enema (BE), basal body temperature (BBT), basal metabolic rate (BMR), blood pressure (BP), cancer (Ca), cardiac care unit, CCU, central nervous system (CNS), cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), CT scan, CAT scan, computerized axial tomography, coronary artery bypass surgery (CABS), dilation and curettage, D & C, dose*, dead on arrival, DOA, electrocardiogram, EKG, electroencephalogram, EEG, emergency medical service, EMS, emergency room, ER, fever of undetermined origin (FUO), gastrointestinal (GI), genitourinary (GU), gunshot wound (GSW), hemoglobin (Hb), ideal body weight (IBW), stat ("immediately"), intramuscular (IM), intensive care unit, ICU, intravenous, IV, last menstrual period (LMP), magnetic resonance imaging, MRI, myocardial infarction (MI), normal (n), normal temperature and pressure (NTP), obstetrics and gynecology, OB-GYN, operating room, OR, outpatient department (OPD), PET scan, positron emission tomography, pharmacy, Rx, pharm, physical examination (PE), pulse (P), respiration (R), red blood cell (rbc), shortness of breath (SOB), temperature (T), venereal disease (VD), weight (wt), white blood cell (wbc), x-ray.

hospital Usage Examples

Preposition: for

  • check-up: An SAR helicopter then arrived at the scene and transferred the lost diver to hospital for a check-up.

Adjective modifier

  • psychiatric: Yes I have spent a lot of time in a psychiatric hospital.
  • acute: In 1999 private acute hospitals had a total turnover of £ 3bn compared to a total NHS expenditure of £ 52 bn.
  • mental: Curiously, the Government had also built a vast, very expensive mental hospital in the bush nearby.
  • private: Due to my desperation I enquired about other private hospitals within an hour's drive of where I live.
  • local: I even got onto a sleep study at a local hospital which was not much help.
  • veterinary: This site provides information on the School, its courses, staff, internships, residencies and veterinary teaching hospital.

Modifies a noun

  • admission: Hospital Admissions - from what date to what date; which hospital?
  • ward: The dissertation was an assessment of thermal comfort within hospital wards, through the correct application of ventilation.
  • bed: Waking up in a hospital bed, Jane wonders whether it was real or just a dream.
  • discharge: When you come: Please bring your hospital discharge notes, or the baby's red health book when you register.
  • trust: Less than 20 % of those in charge of hospital trusts are women.
  • appointment: He's also glad that Lizzie is able to take her mind off an imminent hospital appointment with arranging Jill's party.

Preposition: by

  • ambulance: Not surprisingly I continued to lose weight until I collapsed at work and had to be taken to hospital by ambulance.

Noun used with modifier

  • NHS: It may be a private bed in an NHS hospital.
  • foundation: Kevin Curran, the newly elected general secretary of the GMB, used his victory speech to attack the setting up of foundation hospitals.
  • leper: By law, leper hospitals had to be situated outside town boundaries and St. Leonard's was on the Newton side of the beck.
  • teaching: Setting The Emergency Department of a large teaching hospital in South-East England.
  • fever: The fever hospital was burned down during the civil war in 1922-23.
  • isolation: He was sent to be educated with a dietary counselor at the isolation hospital at Bryne Boars, Chesil Beach.
hospital Quotes

I was in hospital once. There was a man in another ward, dying of throat cancer. In the silence, I could hear his screams continually. That's the only kind of form my work has.

—Beckett, Samuel

Randolph Churchill went into hospital†to have a lung removed. It was announced that the trouble was not 'malignant'. Seeing Ed Stanley in White's, on my way to Rome,Iremarked that it was atypicaltriumph of modern science to find the only part of Randolph that was not malignant and remove it.

—Waugh, Evelyn Arthur StJohn

Browse dictionary entries near hospital

  1. hospitable
  2. hospice
  3. hosp
  4. hosiery
  5. hosier
  6. hoser
  7. hosen
  8. hosel
  9. Hosea
  10. hose
  1. hospital corners
  2. Hospitaler
  3. Hospitalet
  4. hospitality
  5. hospitality suite
  6. hospitalization
  7. hospitalization insurance
  8. hospitalize
  9. host
  10. hosta