salvage

plural salvages

1. countableuncountableThe rescue of a ship, its crew and passengers or its cargo from a hazardous situation.
2. countableuncountableThe ship, crew or cargo so rescued.
3. countableuncountableThe compensation paid to the rescuers.
4. countableuncountableThe money from the sale of rescued goods.
5. countableuncountableThe similar rescue of property liable to loss; the property so rescued.

   [...] the debris was hurled down the hillside on to the line and swept the engine off the track and into the sea; the engine in question, ex-Cambrian 0-6-0 No. 874, was not considered to be worth salvage, and was abandoned.

   1943 March and April, “A British Avalanche Shelter”, in Railway Magazine, page 80

6. countableuncountableThe process of acquiring, dismantling, and stocking the pieces of old property such as ships, houses, and vehicles, so that they can be sold on to be reused or recycled.
7. attributivecountablesometimesuncountableAnything put to good use that would otherwise have been wasted, such as damaged goods.

   salvage cars auction

present singular third person salvages · participle present salvaging · participle past salvaged · past salvaged

1. transitivepeople or situations at riskTo rescue.

   Robin van Persie looked to have secured the points for the Gunners with a fine goal from Theo Walcott's through ball. But Perisic dipped a sublime 20-yard shot home to salvage a draw.

   2011 September 13, Sam Lyon, “Borussia Dortmund 1 - 1 Arsenal”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 26 Apr 2023

2. transitivehuman sciencesTo modify (a false proposition) to create a true proposition.

   Prove or disprove, and salvage if possible.

3. transitiveTo put to use.

   1 more example

   During the war, but unrecorded because of the requirements of censorship, a link with the now partly-abandoned Cardiff Railway disappeared with the demolition of Rhydyfelin Viaduct, near Treforest, South Wales, in the latter part of 1942. The steelwork in this structure, amounting to nearly 1,150 tons, was salvaged as scrap metal to assist the war effort.

   1946 January and February, “Notes and News: Demolition of Rhydyfelin Viaduct”, in Railway Magazine, page 52

4. transitiveTo make new or restore for the use of being saved.

plural salvages

1. obsoleteObsolete spelling of savage.First known use 16th–19th c.

   Cornels, and ſalvage Berries of the Wood, / And Roots and Herbs have been my meagre Food.

   1697, Virgil, “The Third Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 292, lines 855–856

plural salvages

1. PhilippinesSummary execution, extrajudicial killing.

present singular third person salvages · participle present salvaging · participle past salvaged · past salvaged

1. PhilippinesTo perform summary execution.
2. PhilippinesTo apprehend and execute (a suspected criminal) without trial.

1. A town in Newfoundland, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.

   Cecil Stuckless was fixing a Jeep in Salvage, Newfoundland with his son-in-law, who was working under the car.

   2013 July 22, “Septuagenarian Superhero? Man Lifts Car Off Son-In-Law”, in NPR, archived from the original on 28 Apr 2024

   1 more example

   A man in Salvage, N.L., is being called a 'miracle man' by some residents in the community for lifting a vehicle off his son-in-law, but he says he's no hero.

   2013 July 19, “72-year-old N.L. 'superman' lifts SUV off son-in-law”, in CBC, archived from the original on 14 Mar 2023