I. ˈre(ˌ)skyü verb
( rescued ; rescued ; rescuing -_skyəwiŋ, -(ˌ)skyüiŋ ; rescues )
Etymology: Middle English rescuen, rescowen, from Middle French rescourre, from Old French, from re- + escourre to shake out, wrest away, from Latin excutere, from ex- + -cutere (from quatere to shake) — more at quash
transitive verb
1.
a. : to free from confinement, violence, danger, or evil : liberate from actual restraint : save , deliver
rescue a prisoner of war from the enemy
rescued a drowning child
b. : to take forcibly from the custody of the law
2. : to recover by force: as
a. : to deliver (as a place besieged) by force of arms
b. : to effect a rescue of (a prize)
3. : to bid over a bid by (one's partner or oneself) in a card game on the assumption that the previous bid would entail a serious penalty
intransitive verb
: to bring about deliverance
Synonyms:
deliver , redeem , ransom , reclaim , save : rescue indicates freeing from capture, assault, evil, death, or destruction by ready prompt action
rescuing a soldier from the enemy
rescuing the guards held as hostages
the seamen rescued from the lost ship
rescue his nation from defeat
deliver signifies setting free from confinement, suffering, tribulation, embarrassment, or vexation
delivered the prisoners from the Bastille
deliver us from evil — Mt 6:13 (Revised Standard Version)
the population of Russia had only just been delivered, nominally at least, from serfdom — Havelock Ellis
redeem applies to releasing from captivity, retribution, sequestration, or deterioration by some necessary expenditure
let me redeem my brothers both from death — Shakespeare
he labored for eighty years, redeeming them to Christianity from their magical and bloodthirsty practices — Norman Douglas
a plot of land redeemed from the heath, and after long and laborious years brought into cultivation — Thomas Hardy
ransom usually applies specifically to buying a captive out of his captivity
ransom a child held by kidnappers
back in Quebec with a number of Iroquois captives whom he had ransomed — J.J.Wynne
reclaim indicates a bringing back or returning to a former sound, good, or valuable condition of something that has undergone error, degenerating, waste, neglect, or abandonment
the priest labored zealously to reclaim those of the redmen that had listened to Baptist teachings — Louise P. Kellogg
I fear he is not to be reclaimed; there is scarcely a hope that anything in his character or fortunes is reparable now — Charles Dickens
a large-scale program of reclaiming land and of bringing new land into cultivation — H.S.Truman
save is a general term that can be used in place of any of the preceding; it may imply a freeing from danger, evil, or trial and a maintaining or preserving for continued existence, security, use, or service
saved a tired swimmer from drowning
firemen saving the rear wing of the house
II. noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English rescue, rescowe, from rescuen, rescowen to rescue
1. : an act of rescuing : deliverance or aid in delivering from restraint, violence, or danger
three rescues to his credit
come to their rescue
2.
a. : the forcible taking of a person or goods from the custody of the law (as in retaking or taking away against law of things lawfully distrained or in the forcible liberation of a person from an arrest or imprisonment)
b.
(1) : the retaking of a prize by those captured with it resulting in the restoration of the property to the owner by the effect of the right of postliminium — compare recapture
(2) : succor rendered by the arrival of outside help before the succored party is entirely overcome