Definitions for Hospital
ˈhɒs pɪ tlHospi·tal

Princeton's WordNet(3.86 / 7 votes)Rate this definition:

1. hospital, infirmary(noun)

   a health facility where patients receive treatment

2. hospital(noun)

   a medical institution where sick or injured people are given medical or surgical care

Wiktionary(3.50 / 14 votes)Rate this definition:

1. hospital(Noun)

   A building designed to diagnose and treat the sick, injured or dying. Usually has a staff of doctors and nurses to aid in the treatment of patients.

2. hospital(Noun)

   A building founded for the long term care of its residents, such as an almshouse. The residents may have no physical ailments, but simply need financial support.

3. hospital(Noun)

   A place of lodging.

4. hospital(Noun)

   The place and state of being hospitalized.

   Luckily an ambulance arrived quickly and he was rushed to hospital.

Origin: From hospital (Modern French hôpital), from hospitalis, from hospes

Wikipedia(3.75 / 4 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Hospital

   A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized medical and nursing staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emergency department to treat urgent health problems ranging from fire and accident victims to a sudden illness. A district hospital typically is the major health care facility in its region, with many beds for intensive care and additional beds for patients who need long-term care. Specialized hospitals include trauma centers, rehabilitation hospitals, children's hospitals, seniors' (geriatric) hospitals, and hospitals for dealing with specific medical needs such as psychiatric treatment (see psychiatric hospital) and certain disease categories. Specialized hospitals can help reduce health care costs compared to general hospitals. Hospitals are classified as general, specialty, or government depending on the sources of income received. A teaching hospital combines assistance to people with teaching to medical students and nurses. The medical facility smaller than a hospital is generally called a clinic. Hospitals have a range of departments (e.g. surgery and urgent care) and specialist units such as cardiology. Some hospitals have outpatient departments and some have chronic treatment units. Common support units include a pharmacy, pathology, and radiology. Hospitals are usually funded by the public sector, health organisations (for profit or nonprofit), health insurance companies, or charities, including direct charitable donations. Historically, hospitals were often founded and funded by religious orders, or by charitable individuals and leaders.Currently, hospitals are largely staffed by professional physicians, surgeons, nurses, and allied health practitioners, whereas in the past, this work was usually performed by the members of founding religious orders or by volunteers. However, there are various Catholic religious orders, such as the Alexians and the Bon Secours Sisters that still focus on hospital ministry in the late 1990s, as well as several other Christian denominations, including the Methodists and Lutherans, which run hospitals. In accordance with the original meaning of the word, hospitals were originally "places of hospitality", and this meaning is still preserved in the names of some institutions such as the Royal Hospital Chelsea, established in 1681 as a retirement and nursing home for veteran soldiers.

Webster Dictionary(2.80 / 5 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Hospital(noun)

   a place for shelter or entertainment; an inn

2. Hospital(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

3. Hospital(adj)

   hospitable

Origin: [OF. hospital, ospital, F. hpital, 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.]

Freebase(2.17 / 6 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Hospital

   A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals are usually funded by the public sector, by health organizations, health insurance companies, or charities, including direct charitable donations. Historically, hospitals were often founded and funded by religious orders or charitable individuals and leaders. Today, hospitals are largely staffed by professional physicians, surgeons, and nurses, whereas in the past, this work was usually performed by the founding religious orders or by volunteers. However, there are various Catholic religious orders, such as the Alexians and the Bon Secours Sisters, which still focus on hospital ministry today. In accord with the original meaning of the word, hospitals were originally "places of hospitality", and this meaning is still preserved in the names of some institutions such as the Royal Hospital Chelsea, established in 1681 as a retirement and nursing home for veteran soldiers.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary(1.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. Hospital

   hos-′pit-al, n. a building for the reception and treatment of the old, the sick, and hurt, &c., or for the support and education of the young.—n. Hos′pitaller, one of a charitable brotherhood for the care of the sick in hospitals: one of an order of knights, commonly called Knights of St John (otherwise called Knights of Rhodes, and afterwards of Malta), who about 1048 built a hospital for the care and cure of pilgrims at Jerusalem.—Hospital Saturday, or Sunday, days set apart for the collection of funds on behalf of hospitals.—Convalescent hospital, one intermediate between the ordinary hospital and the patient's own home; Cottage hospital, a small establishment where hospital treatment is carried on at little expense and with simple arrangements; Lock hospital, one for the treatment of venereal diseases; Magdalen hospital, an institution for the reclamation of fallen women; Marine, or Naval, hospital, a special hospital for sick sailors, or for men in the naval service; Maternity hospital, one for women in labour. [O. Fr. hospital—Low L. hospitale—hospes, a guest.]

Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms(4.57 / 7 votes)Rate this definition:

1. hospital

   A medical treatment facility capable of providing inpatient care. It is appropriately staffed and equipped to provide diagnostic and therapeutic services, as well as the necessary supporting services required to perform its assigned mission and functions. A hospital may, in addition, discharge the functions of a clinic.

Dictionary of Nautical Terms(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. hospital

   A place appointed for the reception of sick and wounded men, with a regular medical establishment. (See NAVAL HOSPITALS.)

Military Dictionary and Gazetteer(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. hospital

   A place appointed for the sick and wounded men, provided with physicians, surgeons, nurses, servants, medicines, beds, etc.

Suggested Resources(2.50 / 2 votes)Rate this definition:

1. hospital

   The hospital symbol -- In this Symbols.com article you will learn about the meaning of the hospital symbol and its characteristic.

Etymology and Origins(2.00 / 2 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Hospital

   See “Hospice.”

British National Corpus

1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'Hospital' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #647

2. Written Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'Hospital' in Written Corpus Frequency: #833

3. Nouns Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'Hospital' in Nouns Frequency: #213

How to pronounce Hospital?

1. 

   Alex

   US English

   

   Daniel

   British

   

   Karen

   Australian

   

   Veena

   Indian

How to say Hospital in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of Hospital in Chaldean Numerology is: 5

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of Hospital in Pythagorean Numerology is: 1

Examples of Hospital in a Sentence

1. Jean Bosco Noheli:

   Our hospital is the forest.

2. Josh Michtom:

   The hospital is effectively jail.

3. Samuel Goldwyn:

   A Hospital is no place to be sick.

4. Anthony Bove:

   I got to the hospital and he was in pieces.

5. Jonathan Morris:

   We've put manufacturing inside the hospital.

Images & Illustrations of Hospital

Popularity rank by frequency of use