save

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

English

Etymology

From Middle English saven, sauven, a borrowing from Old French sauver, from Late Latin salvāre (“to save”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: sāv, IPA^(key): /seɪv/
• Rhymes: -eɪv

Verb

save (third-person singular simple present saves, present participle saving, simple past and past participle saved)

1. (transitive) To prevent harm or difficulty.
   1. To help (somebody) to survive, or rescue (somebody or something) from harm.
   2. To keep (something) safe; to safeguard.
   3. To spare (somebody) from effort, or from something undesirable.
   4. (Christianity) To redeem or protect someone from eternal damnation.

   5. (sports) To catch or deflect (a shot at goal).
   6. (baseball) 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.
2. To put aside; to avoid.
   1. (transitive) To store for future use.

      Coordinate terms: lay aside, lay away, lay by, lay in, lay up, put aside, put away, put by, store away, store up

   2. (transitive) To conserve or prevent the wasting of.
   3. (transitive) To obviate or make unnecessary.
   4. (transitive, intransitive, computing, video games) To write a file to disk or other storage medium.

   6. (intransitive) To economize or avoid waste.
   7. (transitive and intransitive) To accumulate money or valuables.
   8. (transitive, gambling, slang, archaic) 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.

   9. (reflexive, idiomatic, often with "for") To refrain from romantic or (especially in later use) sexual relationships until one is married or is with a suitable partner.
   10. (informal) To avoid saying something.

Usage notes

In computing sense “to write a file”, also used as phrasal verb save down informally. Compare other computing phrasal verbs such as print out and close out.

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

save (plural saves)

1. An instance of preventing (further) harm or difficulty.
   1. In various sports, a block that prevents an opponent from scoring.
   2. (baseball) A successful attempt by a relief pitcher to preserve the win of another pitcher on one's team.

   3. (professional wrestling, slang) 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.

   4. (informal) An action that brings one back out of an awkward situation.

2. (computing) The act, process, or result of saving data to a storage medium.

3. (roleplaying games) A saving throw.

Derived terms

Translations

Preposition

save

1. Except; with the exception of.

Synonyms

• barring, except for, save for; see also Thesaurus:except

Translations

Conjunction

save

1. unless; except
   • 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:

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

Derived terms

• a prophet is not without honor save in his own country
• save vs.
• save as

References

• “save, v.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
• (make a gambling agreement): John Camden Hotten (1873) The Slang Dictionary

Further reading

• “save”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “save”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “save”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “save”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.

Anagrams

• AEVs, Esav, VASE, VESA, Veas, aves, vaes, vase

Bislama

Etymology

French savez (“you know”) and English savvy have been suggested as origins, but Charpentier considers Portuguese sabe (“know”), influenced by its Spanish cognate, more likely. Compare Tok Pisin save.

Verb

save

1. to know
2. to be able to

   mi no save kam : I can't come

   mi save toktok Francis : I can speak French

References

• Claire Moyse-Faurie, Borrowings from Romance languages in Oceanic languages, in Aspects of Language Contact (2008, →ISBN

Danish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /saːvə/, [ˈsæːʋə], [ˈsæːʊ]
• Rhymes: -aːvə

Etymology 1

From Old Norse saga, from Proto-Germanic *sagōną, cognate with Swedish såga, English saw, German sägen, Dutch zagen. Derived from the noun *sagō (Danish sav).

Verb

save (past tense savede, past participle savet)

1. to saw

Conjugation

References

• “save” in Den Danske Ordbog

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Noun

save c

1. indefinite plural of sav

Middle English

Etymology 1

Adjective

save

1. Alternative form of sauf

Preposition

save

1. Alternative form of sauf

Conjunction

save

1. Alternative form of sauf

Adverb

save

1. Alternative form of sauf

Etymology 2

Verb

save

1. Alternative form of saven

Northern Sami

Pronunciation

• (Kautokeino) IPA^(key): /ˈsave/

Verb

save

1. inflection of savvit:
   1. present indicative connegative
   2. second-person singular imperative
   3. imperative connegative

Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English save.

Pronunciation

Noun

save m or f (plural saves)

1. (informal, gaming) save file (of a video game or computer game)

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:save.

Tok Pisin

Etymology

From Portuguese sabe (“know”). Compare Bislama save.

Verb

save

1. (transitive) to know
2. (transitive) to understand
3. (transitive) to make a practice or habit of
4. (transitive) to learn

Derived terms

• luksave

Adverb

save

1. habitually

Noun

save

1. knowledge