rescue

RES-kyoo/ˈɹɛs.kjuː/

Noun pluralrescues

15 meanings of rescue

1
verbtransitive
To save a person or thing from violence, danger, or evil.
Lifeguards rescue swimmers caught in strong currents.
The crew rescued three sailors from the sinking vessel.
Similarfree, deliver
Oppositeendanger, imperil
Note
The core sense has a vivid Latin origin: re- joined to excutere, 'to shake or drive out', from ex 'out' and quatiō 'I shake'. To rescue was to shake someone loose from what held them. The word came into English through Old French rescoure and Middle English rescouen. The usual pattern is rescue someone from something. Its opposites, endanger and imperil, name the threat a rescue undoes.
2
nouncountable
An act or episode of saving someone or something from harm.
The mountain rescue required two helicopters and a dozen volunteers.
News crews documented the dramatic rescue of the trapped miners.
Similarrecovery, extraction, evacuation
3
verbtransitive
To free or liberate someone or something from confinement or physical restraint.
Volunteers rescued the dog tangled in the wire fence.
Commandos rescue prisoners held behind enemy lines.
Similarrelease, free, liberate
Oppositecapture, arrest, kidnap
4
verbfigurativelytransitive
To salvage a positive result from difficult or failing circumstances.
Her closing argument rescued an otherwise hopeless case.
A single brilliant idea can rescue a struggling campaign.
Similarsave, salvage, redeem
Oppositeruin, sink
Note
Sports writing has made this sense its own. A team rescues a point or rescues a draw when it claws back a result after falling behind, as in Sam Lyon's 2011 BBC report of Borussia Dortmund 1–1 Arsenal. The object is the outcome that was salvaged, not a person. Outside sport the shape holds: Marion A. Kaplan writes of rescuing some normalcy from increasingly difficult times.
5
verbtransitive
To adopt an animal, especially one that has been abandoned or in need of a home.
We rescued our greyhound from a racing kennel.
Shelters encourage people to rescue pets rather than buy them.
Similaradopt
Note
Animal welfare has turned rescue into a word for adoption. To rescue a dog is to give it a home, not to pull it out of a flood. The verb quietly carries the idea that the animal needed saving, which sets it apart from simply getting or buying a pet. The same usage gives a noun for the animal itself, so a dog can be a rescue.
6
nouncountable or uncountable
The freeing or liberation of someone from captivity or restraint.
Their rescue from the prison camp ended years of captivity.
The daring rescue freed every captive before dawn.
Similarliberation, release, deliverance, freeing
Oppositecapture
7
verbtransitive
To salvage something that has been discarded and restore it to use.
She rescued a Victorian dresser from a dumpster and restored it to its former glory.
Hobbyists rescue vintage radios that others have thrown out.
Similarsalvage, save, reclaim, recover, retrieve
Oppositediscard, scrap
8
verbtransitive
To correct something that has gone wrong while making or preparing something, especially food.
A pinch of sugar rescued the overly acidic tomato soup.
Skilled chefs can rescue a curdled sauce with a splash of warm water.
Similarsave, salvage, fix
Oppositeruin, spoil
9
verbfigurativelytransitive
To draw someone away from a life exposed to evil and sin.
He preached that grace alone could rescue the wayward.
Missionaries spoke of rescuing souls from temptation and ruin.
Similarsave, redeem
Oppositecorrupt, deprave
10
nouncountable
The forcible breaking of a siege, or liberation from comparable military danger.
The garrison held out for months until their rescue by the relief army.
Chronicles describe the rescue of the besieged city as a turning point in the war.
Similarrelief, liberation, deliverance

11
verbtransitive
To recover something by force, especially from a besieging enemy.
The relief force rescued the citadel before its defenders surrendered.
Loyal troops fought to rescue the king's stronghold from the rebels.
Similarrecapture, retake, liberate
Oppositecapture, besiege
Note
A military sense, close kin to retake and recapture. What is rescued here is a place or position already lost or under siege, won back by force rather than simply kept from harm. Its natural opposites are besiege and capture. The noun keeps the same battlefield meaning in the lifting of a siege.
12
nouncountable
A specially arranged airliner flight to bring stranded passengers home.
When the volcano grounded all flights, the carrier scheduled a rescue for the next morning.
The stranded honeymooners finally caught a rescue out of the cyclone-hit resort.
13
verbtransitive
To restore a trait in an organism that was lost or altered, especially as a result of experimental manipulation.
Introducing the wild-type gene rescued the mutant phenotype in the flies.
Researchers can rescue the lost function by reactivating the silenced gene.
Similarrestore
Note
Laboratory usage from genetics and biology. Researchers alter or knock out a gene, then rescue the resulting phenotype by restoring a working copy, which shows the gene was responsible. The grammar is distinctive. What gets rescued is the trait, not the animal, and the verb is often passive, with the restoring allele as the agent: the abnormal weight was rescued by the transgene.
14
nouncountable or uncountable
The unlawful freeing of a person, or of confiscated goods, from legal custody.
He was indicted for rescue after spiriting the seized goods away from the customs house.
The sheriff's men prevented a rescue of the condemned man at the gallows.
Note
A legal term in which the rescuer is the wrongdoer. Freeing a prisoner from lawful custody, or taking back goods that officers had seized, was itself an offense called rescue. The term now belongs mostly to older legal writing, so a phrase like charged with rescue needs context today. It has nothing in common with saving someone from harm except the word.
15
nouncountable
A person or animal that has been brought to safety; the one who is saved.
The shivering rescue was wrapped in blankets and given hot tea.
Each rescue gave a brief statement to the waiting reporters.
Similarsurvivor

Practice

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Origin

From Middle English rescouen, from Old French rescoure, which came from the Latin prefix re- plus excutere ('to shake or drive out'), formed from ex ('out') and quatiō ('I shake').