INDEX:
save money
1. to save money
2. to have money you have saved
3. the money you have saved
to save/rescue
4. to help someone in danger or a bad situation
5. to help someone in a social situation
6. to stop something from being damaged or lost
7. to help an organization, business, relationship etc
to save for later
8. to save something to use later
RELATED WORDS
opposite
↑ SPEND MONEY OR TIME
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1. to save money
▷ save /seɪv/ [intransitive/transitive verb]
to gradually collect money by not spending all the money you have, especially when you regularly put some of it in a bank :
▪ I find it very difficult to save - I just spend everything I get.
▪ How long did it take you to save all that money?
▪ It’s a low-paid job, but she still manages to save a few dollars each week.
▪ She planned to work until she had saved enough money to attend nursing school in Nashville.
save for
save money in order to pay for something
▪ They’ve already started saving for their next vacation.
▷ save up /ˌseɪv ˈʌp/ [intransitive/transitive phrasal verb]
to save money in order to buy something or to do something :
▪ If you want a new bike you’ll have to start saving up.
▪ She’s saved up enough money to take a course in computer science.
save up to do something
▪ Dave’s been saving up for months to buy a new camera.
save up for
▪ It took me ages to save up for those trainers.
▷ set aside /ˌset əˈsaɪd/ [transitive phrasal verb]
to regularly save part of the money you earn, especially over a long period of time :
set aside something
▪ We’ve all been setting aside a little money each month for a trip to Disneyland.
set something aside
▪ If you want to build up a good pension fund, you should start setting aside a small part of your earnings now.
▷ scrimp and save /ˌskrɪmp ən ˈseɪv/ [verb phrase]
to try to save money by spending less on the things you need and by saving what you can, especially when you do not earn very much :
▪ After years of scrimping and saving, we’ve finally got enough money to go on a foreign holiday.
scrimp and save to do something
▪ My parents had to scrimp and save for years to send me to college.
2. to have money you have saved
▷ have something saved/have something saved up /hæv something ˈseɪvd, hæv something ˌseɪvd ˈʌp/ [verb phrase]
▪ It’s a good thing I had some extra money saved - I didn’t expect the car repairs to be so expensive.
▪ Fortunately, we had enough saved up for a nice flat.
▷ have something put by/put away /hæv something ˌpʊt ˈbaɪ, ˌpʊt əˈweɪ/ [verb phrase]
if you have money put by or put away, you have saved it over a long period of time :
▪ I think Philip has quite a lot of money put by.
▪ I knew my aunt had a few thousand put away but I never realized she was practically a millionaire!
▷ have something tucked away /hæv something ˌtʌkt əˈweɪ/ [verb phrase]
if you have money tucked away, you have saved it, especially when other people do not know that you have it or where you keep it [verb phrase]
▪ It turned out that he had several million tucked away in a secret Swiss bank account.
▪ I try to keep a little money tucked away for my retirement.
3. the money you have saved
▷ savings /ˈseɪvɪŋz/ [plural noun]
▪ The old woman kept her savings in a big jar under her bed.
▪ I’m paying for the course out of my own savings.
savings of
▪ Do you have savings of £3000 or more?
▪ You may qualify for state benefit if you have less than £8000 in savings.
somebody’s life savings
all the money you have saved in your life
▪ My parents spent their life savings on a retirement home in Florida.
▷ nest egg /ˈnest eg/ [countable noun usually singular]
an amount of money that you have saved for the time when you stop working, get married etc :
▪ This investment will be a nice little nest egg for you when you get married.
▪ A long period of high inflation will eventually reduce the value of your nest egg.
4. to help someone in danger or a bad situation
▷ save /seɪv/ [transitive verb]
to stop someone from being killed or badly hurt, or help them out of a bad situation :
▪ Ben would have died in the blaze if a fireman hadn’t saved him.
▪ The President had been shot from close range. It was only his bullet-proof vest that saved him.
save somebody from something
▪ Officer McCarthy had saved her from a savage attack in the park.
▪ Environmentalists are campaigning to save the white rhinoceros from extinction.
save somebody from doing something
▪ Michael was saved from choking to death by Susie.
save somebody’s life
▪ Wearing a seat belt can help save your life.
▷ rescue /ˈreskjuː/ [transitive verb]
to save someone by removing them from a dangerous, difficult, or unpleasant situation, especially when this involves taking serious risks :
▪ Firefighters worked for two hours to rescue people who were trapped in the bus.
rescue somebody from something
▪ We were rescued from the sinking ship by a passing fishing boat.
▪ She was rescued from her underpaid factory job by a movie director searching for new talent.
▷ come to the rescue /ˌkʌm tə ðə ˈreskjuː/ [verb phrase]
to save someone from a dangerous, difficult, or unpleasant situation, when they urgently need help :
▪ He attempted to rob another girl, but her friends came to the rescue.
come to somebody’s rescue
▪ The baby was destined to spend her life in an orphanage until a nurse came to her rescue.
come to the rescue of
▪ Agassi once again came to the rescue of his country in the quarter final of the Davis Cup.
▷ pick up /ˌpɪk ˈʌp/ [transitive phrasal verb]
to save someone from a dangerous place by taking them away in a boat or aircraft :
pick up somebody
▪ They spent the night near the top of the mountain, before being picked up by a helicopter.
pick somebody up
▪ A lifeboat picked them up two miles from the coast.
5. to help someone in a social situation
▷ save/rescue /seɪv, ˈreskjuː/ [transitive verb]
to do or say something that helps someone who is embarrassed or bored in a conversation or social situation :
▪ I was stuck talking to Aunt Martha until Mom rescued me.
▪ I felt embarrassed, not knowing how to answer his question, but Jane saved me by changing the subject.
save/rescue from
▪ Excuse me a moment, I must go and rescue Mary from boring old Mr. Potter.
▷ come to the rescue /ˌkʌm tə ðə ˈreskjuː/ [verb phrase]
to do or say something that helps someone at exactly the right time when they are bored, embarrassed, or nervous in a conversation or social situation :
▪ I was struggling to think of things to say until one of my colleagues came to the rescue.
come to somebody’s rescue
▪ I couldn’t remember my doctor’s name - fortunately Maria came to my rescue.
6. to stop something from being damaged or lost
▷ save/rescue /seɪv, ˈreskjuː/ [transitive verb]
to save objects, buildings, places etc that are in danger of being damaged or destroyed :
▪ We could only save some clothes and a few pieces of furniture before the house burned down.
▪ The Landmark Trust is a charity which rescues buildings of architectural interest.
save/rescue something from something
▪ It is almost too late to save the rainforest from destruction.
▪ A historic woollen mill has been rescued from the threat of demolition.
▷ salvage /ˈsælvɪdʒ/ [transitive verb]
to save something, especially something valuable, from a place where other things have already been damaged, destroyed, or lost :
▪ Drivers hope to salvage some of the ship’s cargo.
▪ The fire had destroyed most of the building, but we managed to salvage a few valuable items.
salvage something from something
▪ The house was built of timber salvaged from an earlier building.
7. to help an organization, business, relationship etc
▷ save /seɪv/ [transitive verb]
to do something to help a business, country, relationship etc that is having serious problems and will soon fail :
▪ Bob and Martha worked hard to save their marriage, for the sake of the children.
save something from something
▪ Financial experts are trying to save one of Britain’s biggest holiday companies from bankruptcy.
▷ rescue/come to the rescue /ˈreskjuː, ˌkʌm tə ðə ˈreskjuː/ [transitive verb/verb phrase]
to help an organization, business, or country that is having serious financial problems, for example by lending money or improving the way it is organized :
▪ The World Bank hopes that these emergency measures will rescue the Zambian economy.
▪ The city council had continued to overspend, assuming that the federal government would come to the rescue.
rescue something from something
▪ He reorganized the family business, rescuing it from severe debt.
rescue [uncountable noun]
▪ The rescue plan
▪ involves a ten million dollar loan from the EU.
▷ bail out /ˌbeɪl ˈaʊt/ [transitive phrasal verb]
to help a person, business, or organization that is having serious financial problems by lending or giving them money :
bail out somebody
▪ The government bailed out the ailing car company in order to protect jobs.
bail somebody out
▪ He owed thousands of dollars, and his mother had to sell land to bail him out.
bail somebody out of something
▪ You can’t expect your father to bail you out of trouble all the time.
▷ salvage /ˈsælvɪdʒ/ [transitive verb]
to do something to help a company or relationship when it is having serious problems, so that it does not fail completely :
▪ The company is busy trying to salvage its core business.
▪ Retailing and tourism can’t salvage an ailing economy.
salvage something from something
▪ If you no longer care for your partner, it is time to ask what can be salvaged from your relationship.
▷ throw somebody a lifeline/throw a lifeline to somebody /ˌθrəʊ somebody ə ˈlaɪflaɪn, ˌθrəʊ ə ˈlaɪflaɪn tə somebody/ [verb phrase]
to save a person or company that is in serious financial difficulties and is soon going to fail, by giving them enough money to continue :
▪ Just before my business went bankrupt, my father threw me a lifeline in the form of a $10,000 loan.
▪ The Administration refuses to throw a lifeline to the troubled automobile industry.
8. to save something to use later
▷ save/keep /seɪv, kiːp/ [transitive verb]
to keep something and not use it now, so that you can use it later when you want it or need it :
▪ Save some of the cheese to sprinkle on top of the sauce.
▪ We can use half the wood now but we ought to keep the rest -- we might need it.
save/keep something for something
▪ He took out his last cigarette, which he’d been saving for just this moment.
save/keep something for somebody
▪ We’d have kept some food for you if we’d known you were coming.
save/keep something for later
▪ I’ll keep some of these magazines for later, and read them on the plane.
save something for a rainy day
save something to use at a time when you really need it
▪ Would you like some Scotch? I have a bottle somewhere that I’ve been saving for a rainy day.
▷ keep something in reserve /ˌkiːp something ɪn rɪˈzɜːʳv/ [verb phrase]
to save part of something, so that if the part that you are using is not good enough, large enough etc, you will have more to use :
▪ Luckily I had kept some wine in reserve, in case the rest got finished quickly.
keep sth in reserve for
▪ It’s a good idea to keep a little money in reserve for those unexpected emergencies.
▷ keep back /ˌkiːp ˈbæk/ [transitive phrasal verb]
to not use or give away all of something, so that you still have some of it left for yourself or for another purpose :
keep something back
▪ Keep a small amount of icing back for the other cake.
keep back something
▪ Most farmers are able to keep back enough of their crop for their own use.
▷ conserve /kənˈsɜːʳv/ [transitive verb]
conserve resources/energy/materials etc
to use something very carefully so that you will have enough for the future :
▪ Recycling helps conserve natural and often limited resources.
▪ As a way of conserving water, people were not allowed to use hosepipes or wash their cars.