save

verb

1. 1

   To prevent harm or difficulty. To help (somebody) to survive, or rescue (somebody or something) from harm.

   She was saved from drowning by a passer-by.

   We were able to save a few of our possessions from the house fire.

   Turn out the light Don't try to save me You may be wrong for all I know But you may be right

   One of the hidden glories of Victorian engineering is proper drains. Isolating a city’s effluent and shipping it away in underground sewers has probably saved more lives than any medical procedure except vaccination.

2. 2

   To prevent harm or difficulty. To keep (something) safe; to safeguard.

   Thou hast[…]quitted all to save / A world from utter loss.

3. 3

   To prevent harm or difficulty. To spare (somebody) from effort, or from something undesirable.

   I'll save you / That labour, sir. All's now done.

4. 4

   To prevent harm or difficulty. To redeem or protect someone from eternal damnation.

   Jesus Christ came to save sinners.

5. 5

   To prevent harm or difficulty. To catch or deflect (a shot at goal).

   Chelsea's youngsters, who looked lively throughout, then combined for the second goal in the seventh minute. Romeu's shot was saved by Wolves goalkeeper Dorus de Vries but Piazon kept the ball alive and turned it back for an unmarked Bertrand to blast home.

6. 6

   To prevent harm or difficulty. To preserve, as a relief pitcher, (a win of another pitcher's on one's team) by defending the lead held when the other pitcher left the game.

7. 7

   To put aside; to avoid. To store for future use.

   Let's save the packaging in case we need to send the product back.

8. 8

   To put aside; to avoid. To conserve or prevent the wasting of.

   Save electricity by turning off the lights when you leave the room.

   An indulgent playmate, Grannie would lay aside the long scratchy-looking letter she was writing (heavily crossed ‘to save notepaper’) and enter into the delightful pastime of ‘a chicken from Mr Whiteley's’.

   However, we’ve reached the stage where our technological leaps and bounds no longer save us hours, or even minutes – they shave only seconds from our day-to-day tasks.

   So far, $75 billion in private investment from defense companies who are now investing in new plants, new equipment, new assembly lines to build the munitions of the future faster than ever possible. That’s saving taxpayer dollars.

9. 9

   To put aside; to avoid. To obviate or make unnecessary.

   Will you not speak to save a lady's blush?

10. 10

    To put aside; to avoid. To write a file to disk or other storage medium.

    Where did I save that document? I can't find it on the desktop.

    You can only save your current session at the Presidential Seals scattererd throughout the game.

11. 11

    To put aside; to avoid. To economize or avoid waste.

12. 12

    To put aside; to avoid. To accumulate money or valuables.

13. 13

    archaicTo put aside; to avoid. To make an agreement to give (some amount of money) to a fellow gambler if one wins, and to receive that amount from them if they win, as a form of hedging.

    to save a fiver

14. 14

    To put aside; to avoid. To refrain from romantic or (especially in later use) sexual relationships until one is married or is with a suitable partner.

    She told me she's saving herself for marriage.

    Ryder: Come on—you two were intimate, right? Peebee: Take a wild guess. Why are people so hung up on sex? It's a natural expression of attraction. Peebee: We were doing exciting, daring, irreverent things. It stirs stuff up. Like shaking up a bottle of champagne, you know? Peebee: You should know, better than anyone... Peebee: I'm not the type to "save myself".

15. 15

    informalTo put aside; to avoid. To avoid saying something.

    Save your excuses and lies.

    School days went by. I ran across Sly a couple a times, but I wasn't in no mood to talk. He could save all that philosophical bullshit he liked to holla. Didn't nobody need to tell me what was up.

noun

1. 1

   An instance of preventing (further) harm or difficulty.

   It is no coincidence that two of the four 'saves' on our tour connect with the early days of the Stockton & Darlington Railway (S&DR), where restoration has also been helped by recent research that explains further why these saves are so significant.

2. 2

   An instance of preventing (further) harm or difficulty. In various sports, a block that prevents an opponent from scoring.

   The goaltender made a great save.

   Wolves defender Ronald Zubar was slightly closer with his shot on the turn as he forced Pepe Reina, on his 200th Premier League appearance, into a low save.

3. 3

   An instance of preventing (further) harm or difficulty. A successful attempt by a relief pitcher to preserve the win of another pitcher on one's team.

   Jones retired seven to earn the save.

4. 4

   slangAn instance of preventing (further) harm or difficulty. A point in a professional wrestling match when one or more wrestlers run to the ring to aid a fellow wrestler who is being beaten.

   The giant wrestler continued to beat down his smaller opponent, until several wrestlers ran in for the save.

5. 5

   informalAn instance of preventing (further) harm or difficulty. An action that brings one back out of an awkward situation.

   Nice save.

6. 6

   The act, process, or result of saving data to a storage medium.

   If you're hit by a power cut, you'll lose all of your changes since your last save.

   The game console can store up to eight saves on a single cartridge.

7. 7

   A saving throw.

preposition

1. 1

   Except; with the exception of.

   Under the terms of the Interdict no church services and offices were to be permitted save the baptism of infants and the confession of the dying.

conjunction

1. 1

   Unless; except.

   Only the parties may institute proceedings, save where the law shall provide otherwise.

   Turning back, then, toward the basement staircase, she began to grope her way through blinding darkness, but had taken only a few uncertain steps when, of a sudden, she stopped short and for a little stood like a stricken thing, quite motionless save that she quaked to her very marrow in the grasp of a great and enervating fear.

Forms

plural

saves

past tense

saved

past participle

saved

present participle

saving

third person singular

saves