different between upset vs wambulance

English

Etymology

From Middle English upset (“the act of setting up; establishment”), from Middle English upsetten, corresponding to up- +? set. Cognate with Middle Low German upset (“setup; arrangement”).

Pronunciation

Noun

• enPR: ?p?s?t, IPA^(key): /??ps?t/

Adjective, verb

• enPR: ?ps?t?, IPA^(key): /?p?s?t/
• Rhymes: -?t

Adjective

upset (comparative more upset, superlative most upset)

1. (of a person) Angry, distressed, or unhappy.

   He was upset when she refused his friendship.

   My children often get upset with their classmates.

2. (of a stomach or gastrointestinal tract, referred to as stomach) Feeling unwell, nauseated, or ready to vomit.

   His stomach was upset, so he didn't want to move.

Synonyms

• (angry, distressed, unhappy): See angry, distressed and unhappy
  • in a tizzy

Derived terms

• upset price

Translations

Noun

upset (countable and uncountable, plural upsets)

1. (uncountable) Disturbance or disruption.

   My late arrival caused the professor considerable upset.

2. (countable, sports, politics) An unexpected victory of a competitor or candidate that was not favored to win.
3. (automobile insurance) An overturn.

   "collision and upset": impact with another object or an overturn for whatever reason.

4. An upset stomach.
   • 1958 May 12, advertisement, Life, volume 44, number 19, page 110 [3]:

     "Bob, let's cancel the babysitter. With this upset stomach, I can't go out tonight.

     "Try Pepto-Bismol. Hospital tests prove it relieves upsets. And it's great for indigestion or nausea, too!"

5. (mathematics) An upper set; a subset (X,?) of a partially ordered set with the property that, if x is in U and x?y, then y is in U.
6. (aviation) The dangerous situation where the flight attitude or airspeed of an aircraft is outside the designed bounds of operation, possibly resulting in loss of control.

Synonyms

• (disturbance, disruption): disruption, disturbance
• (unexpected victory of a competitor):

Translations

Derived terms

• jet upset

Verb

upset (third-person singular simple present upsets, present participle upsetting, simple past and past participle upset)

1. (transitive) To make (a person) angry, distressed, or unhappy.

   I’m sure the bad news will upset him, but he needs to know.

2. (transitive) To disturb, disrupt or adversely alter (something).

   Introducing a foreign species can upset the ecological balance.

   The fatty meat upset his stomach.

3. (transitive) To tip or overturn (something).
   • 1924, W. D. Ross translator, Aristitle, Metaphysics, Book 1, Part 9, The Classical Library, Nashotah, Wisconsin, 2001.

     But this argument, which first Anaxagoras and later Eudoxus and certain others used, is very easily upset; for it is not difficult to collect many insuperable objections to such a view.

4. (transitive) To defeat unexpectedly.

   Truman upset Dewey in the 1948 US presidential election.

5. (intransitive) To be upset or knocked over.

   The carriage upset when the horse bolted.

6. (obsolete) To set up; to put upright.
   • R. of Brunne

     with sail on mast upset

7. To thicken and shorten, as a heated piece of iron, by hammering on the end.
8. To shorten (a tire) in the process of resetting, originally by cutting it and hammering on the ends.

Synonyms

• (make someone angry, distressed or unhappy): See anger, distress, forset, and sadden
• (disturb, disrupt, adversely alter): disrupt, disturb, forset, turn upside down
• (tip, overturn): invert, overturn, forset, tip, tip over, tip up, turn over, turn upside down

Derived terms

• upset the applecart
• upset the natives

Translations

Anagrams

• TUPEs, Tse-p'u, puets, set up, set-up, setup, spute, stupe

English

Alternative forms

• waaambulance
• waambulance
• wahmbulance
• whambulance

Etymology

Blend of wah +? ambulance. The earliest known usage was in the 2000 Disney film The Kid, and it may have been first used in this film.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?wæm.bj?.l?ns/
• Hyphenation: wam?bu?lance

Noun

wambulance (plural wambulances)

1. (slang) A notional ambulance called to the scene when somebody is upset; used in dismissive responses to oversensitive complaining.
   • 2000, Disney's The Kid

     Russ Duritz (Bruce Willis): Waaaaaah. Waaaaaaah. Somebody call the wambulance.

   • 2001, "jim", Outrageous!!! (on newsgroup rec.aviation.piloting)

     Someone call the Wambulance. Dudley I am so sick of hearing you bitch about how everybody is not suffering enough.

   • 2007, "Rodney Parker", What a game! (on newsgroup alt.sports.football.pro.dallas-cowboys)

     Funny how we didn't see a single post in this NG from "Ron" or Holder during the game. Not surprising, but funny anyway. I'm sure they'll surface sometime. As a precaution, I've already called the wambulance for them.

See also

• world's smallest violin