rescue

From Middle English rescouen, from Old French rescoure, rescurre, rescorre; from Latin prefix re- (“re-”) + excutere, present active infinitive of excutiō (“I shake or drive out”), from ex (“out”) + quatiō (“I shake”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹɛs.kjuː/

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rescue (third-person singular simple present rescues, present participle rescuing, simple past and past participle rescued) (transitive)

1. To save from any violence, danger or evil.

   The well-trained team rescued everyone after the avalanche.

2. To free or liberate from confinement or other physical restraint.

   to rescue a prisoner from the enemy.

3. To recover forcibly.
4. To deliver by arms, notably from a siege.
5. (figuratively) To remove or withdraw from a state of exposure to evil and sin.

   Traditionally missionaries aim to rescue many ignorant heathen souls.

6. (figuratively) To achieve something positive under difficult conditions.
   • 1999, Marion A. Kaplan, Between Dignity and Despair, Oxford University Press, →ISBN:

     Jews rescued some normalcy from increasingly difficult times by assuaging their constant Angst in the family and community and making do with less.

   • 2011 September 13, Sam Lyon, “Borussia Dortmund 1 - 1 Arsenal”, in BBC‎:

     Arsenal's hopes of starting their Champions League campaign with an away win were dashed when substitute Ivan Perisic's superb late volley rescued a point for Borussia Dortmund.

   • 2013, Daniel Harris, The Promised Land: Manchester United's Historic Treble, Birlinn, →ISBN:

     Over the course of the season, on 15 occasions the team had rescued a draw or better after falling behind, such that even against Juventus, there was an air of inevitability about the comeback.

• (to save from violence, danger or evil): free, deliver, pull out of the fire, save the day
• (to free from confinement): liberate, release
• (to free from restraint): release, unshackle, untie
• (to recover forcibly): recapture, retake
• (to deliver by arms): liberate
• (to rescue from evil or sin): redeem, save

• (antonym(s) of “all senses”): abandon, ignore
• (antonym(s) of “to save from violence, danger or evil”): endanger, imperil
• (antonym(s) of “to free from confinement”): enslave, incarcerate
• (antonym(s) of “to free from restraint”): bind, constrict, hamper, inhibit, obstruct, preclude
• (antonym(s) of “to recover forcibly”): kidnap
• (antonym(s) of “to deliver by arms”): arrest, capture
• (antonym(s) of “to rescue from evil or sin”): corrupt, deprave

• rescuee
• rescuer

• quash

rescue (countable and uncountable, plural rescues)

1. An act or episode of rescuing, saving.
2. A liberation, freeing.
3. The forcible ending of a siege; liberation from similar military peril.

   The rescue of Jerusalem was the original motive of the Crusaders

4. A special airliner flight to bring home passengers who are stranded.
5. A rescuee.

   The dog was a rescue with some behavior issues.

• Often used attributively as an adjective, e.g. "rescue equipment".

“rescue”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

• Creuse, cereus, ceruse, cursee, recuse, secuer, secure