zambuk

Syllables: zam·buk/ˈzæmbʌk/US/ˈzæmˌbʌk/

zambuk noun: a first-aider, especially one from St. John Ambulance attending at a sports event. Also the alternative spelling of sambuq.

Noun (1)

zambuk (plural zambuks)

(Australia, New Zealand, informal) A first-aider, especially one from St. John Ambulance attending at a sports event.
- “C’mon ‘Zambuk,’ what’s keeping yer!” the old-time football crowds would yell when one over-eager barracker k.o.’d an opposition supporter. Spencer Middlemiss sat back in a chair at his Mascot home last week, and, surrounded by a pile of certificates, photographs and cuttings, proudly confessed...1957 April 14, David Burke, “He slept in a police cell: Oldest ambulance man looks back”, in The Sun-Herald, 2nd edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: John Fairfax and Sons, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 32, columns 1–2
- The Hospitaller's Clubs, who work for the Hospital of St. John, an op[h]thalmic hospital in Jerusalem, and the St. John Ambulance Brigade, they're the voluntary uniform body, the Zambuks on the football field and the women in white who look after fainting people in big crowds …1966 March 17, Marjorie Higgins, quotee, “And how is your first aid? Do you know what to do until the doctor comes?”, in The Sydney Morning Herald, late edition, number 40,013, Sydney, N.S.W.: John...

Zambuk (plural Zambuks)

Alternative letter-case form of zambuk.
- “C’mon ‘Zambuk,’ what’s keeping yer!” the old-time football crowds would yell when one over-eager barracker k.o.’d an opposition supporter. Spencer Middlemiss sat back in a chair at his Mascot home last week, and, surrounded by a pile of certificates, photographs and cuttings, proudly confessed...1957 April 14, David Burke, “He slept in a police cell: Oldest ambulance man looks back”, in The Sun-Herald, 2nd edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: John Fairfax and Sons, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 32, columns 1–2
- The Hospitaller's Clubs, who work for the Hospital of St. John, an op[h]thalmic hospital in Jerusalem, and the St. John Ambulance Brigade, they're the voluntary uniform body, the Zambuks on the football field and the women in white who look after fainting people in big crowds …1966 March 17, Marjorie Higgins, quotee, “And how is your first aid? Do you know what to do until the doctor comes?”, in The Sydney Morning Herald, late edition, number 40,013, Sydney, N.S.W.: John...

zambuk is also the alternative spelling of sambuq.

“C’mon ‘Zambuk,’ what’s keeping yer!” the old-time football crowds would yell when one over-eager barracker k.o.’d an opposition supporter.1957 April 14, David Burke, “He slept in a police cell: Oldest ambulance man looks back”, in The Sun-Herald, 2nd edition, Sydney, N.S.W....
All Black lock Tiny White (born 1925) being taken from the field by zambuks in the fourth New Zealand–South Africa rugby test, Eden Park, Auckland, 1 September 1956.2009, Graeme Hunt, “Post-war Challenges”, in First to Care: 125 Years of the Order of St John in New Zealand 1885–2010, Auckland: Libro...

From Zam-Buk, a type of healing ointment originally manufactured in England, United Kingdom; further origin uncertain.

See sambuq.

What does zambuk mean?: Zambuk means a first-aider, especially one from St. John Ambulance attending at a sports event.
How do you use zambuk in a sentence?: “C’mon ‘Zambuk,’ what’s keeping yer!” the old-time football crowds would yell when one over-eager barracker k.o.’d an opposition supporter.
What part of speech is zambuk?: Zambuk is a noun.
How do you pronounce zambuk?: Zambuk is pronounced /ˈzæmbʌk/ (UK).
What is the plural of zambuk?: The plural of zambuk is zambuks.

Adapted from Wiktionary: zambuk (page history and authors); Zambuk (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-zambuck.wav.

Cite this entry: “zambuk.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/zambuk. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.