Definition of "save"

(transitive) To prevent harm or difficulty.

1. To help (somebody) to survive, or rescue (somebody or something) from harm.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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. To keep (something) safe; to safeguard.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

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

     1667, John Milton, “Book III”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […]; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873,

   • IF IT SAVES JUST ONE LIFEYou 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, page 132

3. To spare (somebody) from effort, or from something undesirable.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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, [Act II, scene i]

4. (Christianity) To redeem or protect someone from eternal damnation.  examples

5. (sports) To catch or deflect (a shot at goal).  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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. (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.  examples

To put aside, to avoid.

1. (transitive) To store for future use.  examples

2. (transitive) To conserve or prevent the wasting of.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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

   • 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

3. (transitive) To obviate or make unnecessary.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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, […], (please specify the page number)

4. (transitive, intransitive, computing, video games) To write a file to disk or other storage medium.  examples

5. (intransitive) To economize or avoid waste.  examples

6. (transitive and intransitive) To accumulate money or valuables.  examples

7. (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.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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, PC, scene: Tempest

8. (informal) To avoid saying something.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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, page 206

An instance of preventing (further) harm or difficulty.  quotations

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

   Quotations

   • 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. (baseball) A successful attempt by a relief pitcher to preserve the win of another pitcher on one's team.  examples

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.  examples

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

(roleplaying games) A saving throw.  examples

Except; with the exception of.  quotations  examples

unless; except  quotations  examples