n. 1 an institution providing medical and surgical treatment and nursing care for ill or injured people. 2 hist. a a hospice. b an establishment of the Knights Hospitallers. 3 Law a charitable institution (also in proper names, e.g. Christ's Hospital). hospital corners a way of tucking in sheets, used by nurses. hospital fever a kind of typhus formerly prevalent in crowded hospitals. hospital ship a ship to receive sick and wounded seamen, or to take sick and wounded soldiers home. hospital train a train taking wounded soldiers from a battlefield.
[ ME f. OF f. med.L hospitale neut. of L hospitalis (adj.) (as HOST(2)) ]