saving

Less common meanings

7. 7
   noununcountable

   The act or process of rescuing, preserving, or setting something aside.

   The saving of the crew depended on quick action by the coast guard.

   Energy saving became a national priority during the crisis.

   Similarrescue, preservation, conservation, salvage, protection

   Oppositeloss, waste

8. 8
   preposition

   Used to introduce an exception; except for.

   And in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.

   1611, The Holy Bible, King James Version

   Similarexcept, excepting, barring, bar, excluding

   Oppositeincluding

   Note

   A preposition that marks what is left out, working alongside save and except. The King James Bible of 1611 has "no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it." The grammar is worth noticing: what follows can be a whole clause-like phrase, even the subject pronoun he, rather than the object form a modern preposition would take. Source

   Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • The King James Bible was first published in 1611. wwwe.lib.cam.ac.uk
   • The quoted words occur in the King James Bible, in Revelation 2:17. en.wikisource.org
   • The biblical example places the subject-form pronoun he, expanded by a relative clause, after saving. en.wikisource.org
9. 9
   thriftyadjective

   Inclined to be thrifty and careful with money or resources.

   Similarthrifty, frugal, economical, sparing, prudent

   Oppositeextravagant, wasteful, spendthrift, prodigal

   Note

   A word for people and their habits rather than for money itself: a saving cook, a saving household. Lewis Grassic Gibbon's Sunset Song (1932) sets it among plain virtues, describing a boy who was "douce and saving and sensible." That is its usual company: approving and homely, close in sense to thrifty and frugal. Source

   Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • Lewis Grassic Gibbon wrote Sunset Song. gutenberg.net.au
   • Sunset Song was first published in 1932. gutenberg.net.au
   • The novel describes a boy as "douce and saving and sensible"; this is narration about Cospatric. gutenberg.net.au
10. 10
    protective (law)adjective

    That makes a reservation or exception, as a clause that preserves certain rights.

    Lawmakers added a saving clause so existing licenses would remain valid.

    The treaty included a saving provision protecting prior agreements.

    Note

    The idea of reservation in the legal noun appears here before a noun, most often as a saving clause or a saving provision. It names the part of a document that keeps existing rights intact when the rest of the instrument would sweep them away.

11. 11
    a reservationnouncountable or uncountable

    An exception or reservation, especially one written into a legal document.

    Tis Good Advice not to Contend with Those that are too Strong for us, but still with a saving to Honesty and Justice

    1692, Roger L’Estrange, Fables

    saving and transitional provisions

    Note

    Once a general word for an exception, now chiefly a lawyer's noun. Roger L'Estrange in 1692 advised yielding to the strong "with a saving to Honesty and Justice." In legislation a saving keeps some right or rule alive that a new law would otherwise sweep away, and British statutes still gather them under headings such as transitional provisions and savings. Before a noun the word works as a modifier, as in a saving clause.

12. 12
    preposition

    Used to express that no disrespect is intended; with all due respect to.

    Saving your presence.

    a. 1796, Robert Burns, The Carle of Kellyburn Braes
13. 13
    adjectiveobsolete

    Recovering the amount spent without yielding a profit; breaking even.