I. sal ‧ vage 1 /ˈsælvɪdʒ/ BrE AmE verb [transitive]
1 . to save something from an accident or bad situation in which other things have already been damaged, destroyed, or lost:
Divers hope to salvage some of the ship’s cargo.
salvage something from something
They managed to salvage only a few of their belongings from the fire.
2 . to make sure that you do not lose something completely, or to make sure that something does not fail completely SYN save :
He fought to salvage the company’s reputation.
II. salvage 2 BrE AmE noun [uncountable]
[ Date: 1600-1700 ; Language: French ; Origin: Old French salver ; ⇨ ↑ save 1 ]
1 . when you save things from a situation in which other things have already been damaged, destroyed, or lost:
a massive salvage operation
2 . things that have been saved from an accident, especially when a ship has sunk