save

present singular third person saves · participle present saving · participle past saved · past saved · first person past singular saved · archaic present second person singular savest · past second person singular saved · archaic past second person singular savedst · present singular third person saves · archaic present singular third person saveth · past singular third person saved · past plural saved · past subjunctive saved · participle present saving · participle past saved

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

      She was saved from drowning by a passer-by.

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      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

      1980 March 7, Billy Joel, “You May Be Right”, in Glass Houses

      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.

      2014 June 14, “It's a gas”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8891

   2. transitiveTo keep (something) safe; to safeguard.

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

      1667, John Milton, “Book III”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC

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      IF IT SAVES JUST ONE LIFE You often hear a new policy or procedure justified by the specious idea that "If it saves the life of just one (insert here 'child' or 'American soldier'), it will be worth it." Well, maybe not. Maybe a closer look would show that the cost in time, money or inconvenience would be much too high to justify merely saving one life. What's wrong with looking at it like that? Governments and corporations make those calculations all the time.

      2004, George Carlin, When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?, New York: Hyperion Books, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 132

   3. ditransitivetransitiveTo spare (somebody) (from effort, or from something undesirable).

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

      1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]

   4. ambitransitiveespeciallytransitiveChristianityTo redeem, protect, rescue, or keep (someone) from eternal damnation.

      Jesus Christ came to save sinners.

   5. transitivehobbiesTo 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.

      2012, Chelsea 6-0 Wolves

   6. transitiveball gamesTo 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.
2. To put aside; to avoid.
   1. transitiveTo store for future use.

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

      Synonyms: lay aside, lay away, lay by, lay in, lay up, put aside, put away, put by

   2. transitiveTo conserve or prevent the wasting of.

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

      3 more examples

      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’.

      1977, Agatha Christie, chapter 4, in An Autobiography, part I, London: Collins, →ISBN

      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.

      2019 May 21, Dylan Curran, “Facial recognition will soon be everywhere. Are we prepared?”, in The Guardian

      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.

      2026 July 31, Pete Hegseth, quotee, “President Trump Hosts Historic Cabinet Meeting at Camp David”, in The White House, archived from the original on 31 Jul 2026

   3. transitiveTo obviate or make unnecessary.

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

      1681, John Dryden, The Spanish Fryar: Or, the Double Discovery. […], London: […] Richard Tonson and Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, (please specify the page number)

   4. intransitivetransitivecomputingTo write (a file) to disk or other storage medium.

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

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

      2008, “Story Mode”, in Cory in the House: Instruction Booklet, Burbank, California: Disney Interactive Studios; Nintendo, page 9

   5. intransitiveTo economize or avoid waste, often with on.
   6. intransitivetransitiveTo accumulate (money or other valuables or resources), often with up and/or for.

      (intransitive) I'm trying to save up for a new car.

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      (transitive) I'm trying to save enough money for a new car.

   7. archaicslangtransitivegamblingTo 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

   8. oftenreflexiveTo 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.

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      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".

      2017, BioWare, Mass Effect: Andromeda (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Tempest

   9. informalTo repress or avoid saying (something).

      Save your excuses and lies.

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      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.

      2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 206

plural saves

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.

   2025 February 5, Dr Joseph Brennan, “Railway heritage saved in 2024”, in RAIL, number 1028, page 53

   1 more example

   As 1942 began, work was now continuing apace on getting the ships back afloat and into dock. The first good news in this regard was West Virginia. Thanks to a combination of Tennessee's unintentional save and the crew's own efforts, she'd settled upright, and so divers estimated that, if the various holes could be patched and pumping done in a sensible order from the top down, she should just rise back up to the surface on an even keel, which, in turn, meant that a lot of the initial work on removing her main battery could now be stopped.

   2020 November 18, Drachinifel, 0:34 from the start, in The Salvage of Pearl Harbor Pt 2 - Up She Rises!, archived from the original on 22 Oct 2022

   1. In various sports, a block that prevents an opponent from scoring.

      The goaltender made a great save.

      1 more example

      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.

      2010 December 29, Sam Sheringham, “Liverpool 0 - 1 Wolverhampton”, in BBC

   2. ball gamesA successful attempt by a relief pitcher to preserve the win of another pitcher on one's team.

      Jones retired seven to earn the save.

   3. slanggovernmentA 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.

   4. informalAn action that brings one back out of an awkward situation.

      Nice save.

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

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

   1 more example

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

3. roleplaying gamesA saving throw.

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.

   2004, David Carpenter, The Penguin History of Britain: The Struggle for Mastery, Penguin Books

   Synonyms: saving, barring, except for, save for

1. Unless; except.

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

   2009, Nicolas Brooke (translator), French Code of Civil Procedure in English 2008, Article 1 of Book One, quoted after: 2016, Laverne Jacobs and Sasha Baglay, The Nature of Inquisitorial Processes in Administrative Regimes: Global Perspectives, published by Routledge (first published in 2013 by Ashgate Publishing), p. 8

   1 more example

   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.

   1914 November, Louis Joseph Vance, “An Outsider […]”, in Munsey’s Magazine, volume LIII, number II, New York, N.Y.: The Frank A[ndrew] Munsey Company, […], published 1915, →OCLC, chapter III (Accessory After the Fact), page 382, column 1

1. A river in southeastern Africa that flows about 400 km (250 mi) from south of Harare in Zimbabwe, through Mozambique, to the Indian Ocean.

   “I am from the Save River. But I married. To a man from afar, Phiri, from Malawi.”

   2018, Tsitsi Dangarembga, This Mournable Body, Faber & Faber (2020), page 232

   Synonyms: Sabi

2. A river in southern France that flows about 143 km (89 mi) from the Pyrenees to the Garonne at Grenade.

1. abbreviationacronymuncountablebiologyAcronym of synthetic attenuated viral engineering