hospital Hear it!

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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

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Alternate definitions:
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.


Webster's New World Roget's A-Z Thesaurus Copyright © 1999 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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.

Modifies a noun

  • admission: Hospital Admissions - from what date to what date; which hospital?

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.
hospital usage examples (more)

The word usage examples above have been gathered from various sources to reflect current and historical usage. They do not represent the opinions of YourDictionary.com.

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

hospital quotes (more)

Webster's New World Dictionary of Quotations Copyright © 2005 by Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. Published by Wiley, Hoboken, NJ. Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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MLA Style

"hospital." Webster's New World College Dictionary. 2009

  • Your Dictionary. 5 July 2009
  • <www.yourdictionary.com/hospital>

APA Style

hospital. (2009). In Webster's New World College Dictionary

  • Retrieved July 5th, 2009, from www.yourdictionary.com/hospital

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