Meanings
VAD1
plural VADs
- abbreviationcountablehistoricalinitialismuncountableInitialism of Voluntary Aid Detachment: a women′s first-aid organisation active during World War I and World War II, or a member of this detachment.
A young girl in V.A.D. uniform ran lightly across the lawn.
1920, Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, London: Pan Books, published 1954, page 125 more examples
‘You've not been caught in bed with a V.A.D.?’ Tietjens asked.
1925, Ford Madox Ford, No More Parades (Parade's End), Penguin, published 2012, page 328‘A nurse is like a doctor. It takes a long time to be. A VAD is a short cut.’
1929, Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms, Folio Society, published 2008, page 32If Mollie Skinner was ever technically a member of a Voluntary Aid Detachment in India she would have been an unusually experienced and well-qualified one. VADs were more frequently lady amateurs[…].
1998, David Ellis, D. H. Lawrence: Dying Game 1922-1930: The Cambridge Biography of D. H. Lawrence, page 29There was also the Dublin University VAD, or Voluntary Aid Detachment branch of Dublin University Women graduates and undergraduates.
2006, Desmond Keenan, Post-Famine Ireland: Social Structure: Ireland as it Really Was, page 1762008, Celia M. Kingsbury, Chapter 2: Food Will Win the War, Kathleen LeBesco, Peter Naccarato (editors), Edible Ideologies: Representing Food and Meaning, State University of New York Press, 46, Smith, pseudonym for freelance writer Evadne Price, obtained the war journal of a V.A.D. by the name of Winifred Young, who had turned over the diary with the stipulation that Price remain faithful to the tone.
- abbreviationcountableinitialismuncountablemedicineInitialism of ventricular assist device.
- abbreviationcountableinitialismuncountableInitialism of voluntary assisted dying.
Vad2
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Cite this entry
VAD. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/VAD
“VAD.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/VAD. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “VAD,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/VAD.
Source: VAD on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.