safe

English Online Dictionary. What means safe‎? What does safe mean?

English

Etymology

From Middle English sauf, safe, saf, saaf, from Old French sauf, saulf, salf (“safe”), from Latin salvus (“whole, safe”), from Proto-Indo-European *solh₂- (“whole, every”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: sāf, IPA^(key): /seɪf/
• Rhymes: -eɪf
• Hyphenation: safe

Adjective

safe (comparative safer or more safe, superlative safest or most safe)

1. Not in danger; out of harm's reach.

2. Free from risk; harmless, riskless.

3. Providing protection from danger; providing shelter.

4. (baseball) When a batter successfully reaches first base, or when a baserunner successfully advances to the next base or returns to the base he last occupied; not out.

5. Properly secured; secure.

6. (used after a noun, often forming a compound) Not susceptible to a specified source of harm.

7. (Britain, slang) Great, cool, awesome, respectable; a term of approbation.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Steve Carter, Love, Sex and Tesco's Finest Cava, page 169:

     “Yeah, safe mate, wassup?” says one hoodie, who should at least be credited with attempting a more detailed sentence construction.

8. (slang) Lenient, usually describing a teacher that is easy-going.
9. Reliable; trusty.
10. Cautious.

Synonyms

• harmless, riskless
• secure
• (cool): wicked, cool, awesome
• (reliable): trustworthy
• (lenient): easy-going, merciful, tolerant, lenient

Antonyms

• unsafe
• (providing protection from danger; providing shelter): dangerous
• (providing protection from danger; providing shelter): harmful
• insecure
• (lenient): strict, harsh, intolerant

Hyponyms

• (not in danger from the specified source of harm): dishwasher-safe
• (properly secured; secure): binary-safe, fail-safe, thread-safe, type-safe, typesafe

Translations

Noun

safe (plural safes)

1. A box, usually made of metal, in which valuables can be locked for safekeeping.
2. (slang) A condom.
   • 1999, Rita Ciresi, Pink Slip, Delta (1999), →ISBN, page 328:

     She'd better have an arsenal of Trojans in her purse just in case he wasn't carrying a safe in his back pocket.

3. (dated) A ventilated or refrigerated chest or closet for securing provisions from noxious animals or insects.
4. (dated, colloquial) A safety bicycle.

Synonyms

• (box for storing valuables): coffer, lockbox, strongbox
• (condom): see also Thesaurus:condom.

Hyponyms

• failsafe

Translations

Verb

safe (third-person singular simple present safes, present participle safing, simple past and past participle safed)

1. (transitive) To make something safe.
   • 2007, Rocky Raab, Mike Five Eight: Air War Over Cambodia: Air War Over Cambodia

     “It just trails behind the pylon until I land, then Cramer removes it when he safes the rocket pods. No evidence of anything when I taxi back inside the compound.”

Derived terms

Related terms

• better safe than sorry
• Coolgardie safe

See also

• save
• safety

References

• safe on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Further reading

• safe in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• safe in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• safe at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• EFAs, FAEs, faes

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Hausa

Adverb

sāfe

1. in the morning

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Middle English

Adjective

safe

1. Alternative form of sauf

Preposition

safe

1. Alternative form of sauf

Conjunction

safe

1. Alternative form of sauf

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Portuguese

Verb

safe

1. first-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of safar
2. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present subjunctive of safar
3. third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of safar
4. third-person singular (você) negative imperative of safar