Library / English Dictionary

RESCUE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Recovery or preservation from loss or danger

Example:

a surgeon's job is the saving of lives

Synonyms:

deliverance; delivery; rescue; saving

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("rescue" is a kind of...):

recovery; retrieval (the act of regaining or saving something lost (or in danger of becoming lost))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "rescue"):

lifesaving (saving the lives of drowning persons)

redemption; salvation ((theology) the act of delivering from sin or saving from evil)

reclamation; reformation (rescuing from error and returning to a rightful course)

salvage (the act of rescuing a ship or its crew or its cargo from a shipwreck or a fire)

salvage (the act of saving goods or property that were in danger of damage or destruction)

salvation (saving someone or something from harm or from an unpleasant situation)

search and rescue mission (a rescue mission to search for survivors and to rescue them)

Derivation:

rescue (free from harm or evil)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Take forcibly from legal custody

Example:

rescue prisoners

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "rescue" is one way to...):

take (take by force)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Sense 2

Meaning:

Free from harm or evil

Synonyms:

deliver; rescue

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "rescue" is one way to...):

bring through; carry through; pull through; save (bring into safety)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "rescue"):

relieve; salvage; salve; save (save from ruin, destruction, or harm)

reprieve (relieve temporarily)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Derivation:

rescue (recovery or preservation from loss or danger)

rescuer (a person who rescues you from harm or danger)

Credits

 Context examples: 

I have said that the one person from whom we had had some sign of sympathy in our attempts to get away was the young chief whom we had rescued.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Because glucarpidase rapidly hydrolyzes methotrexate into inactive metabolites, it may be useful as a rescue agent for methotrexate-induced nephrotoxicity.

(Glucarpidase, NCI Thesaurus)

Leucovorin calcium counteracts the toxic effects of these medications, 'rescuing' the patient while permitting the antitumor activity of the folate antagonist.

(Leucovorin calcium, NCI Thesaurus)

This agent counteracts the toxic effects of other folic acid derivative agents, rescuing the patient while permitting the antitumor activity of the folate antagonist.

(Levoleucovorin Calcium, NCI Thesaurus)

A scout was sent flying with a message to the camp, and Sir Hugh, with his two hundred men, thundered off to the rescue.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Rescue breathing helps get oxygen to the lungs for a person who has stopped breathing.

(CPR, NIH)

One rescue mechanism involves activation of proteins involved in DNA repair.

(DNA Synthesis Rescue, NCI Thesaurus)

Emergency medical technicians, or EMTs, do specific rescue jobs.

(Emergency Medical Services, NIH)

Pacing back and forth the length of the hatchways and savagely chewing the end of a cigar, was the man whose casual glance had rescued me from the sea.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Over three to four weeks, "it did rescue the fracture healing."

(Protein Discovery Could Help Heal Bones in Diabetics, VOA)