save1

verb

• 1keep safe or rescue (someone or something) from harm or danger:she saved a boy from drowning
• prevent (someone) from dying:the doctors did everything they could to save him
• (in Christian use) preserve (a person’s soul) from damnation.
• keep (someone) in health (used in exclamations and formulaic expressions):God save the Queen

• 2keep and store up (something, especially money) for future use:she had never been able to save much from her salary [no object]:you can save up for retirement in a number of ways
• Computing keep (data) by moving a copy to a storage location, especially from memory:save it to a new file
• preserve (something) by not expending or using it:save your strength till later
• [in imperative] (save it) informal used to tell someone to stop talking:save it, Joey—I’m in big trouble now

• 3avoid the need to use up or spend (money, time, or other resources):save $20 on a new camcorder [with two objects]:an efficient dishwasher would save them one year and three months at the sink
• avoid, lessen, or guard against:this approach saves wear and tear on the books [with two objects]:the statement was made to save the government some embarrassment

• 4prevent an opponent from scoring (a goal or point) in a game or from winning (the game):the powerful German saved three match points
• Baseball (of a relief pitcher in certain game situations) finish (a game) while preserving a winning position gained by another pitcher.
• Soccer & Hockey (of a goalkeeper) stop (a shot) from entering the goal.

noun

• 1 Baseball an instance of a relief pitcher saving a game.
• chiefly Soccer & Hockey an act of preventing an opponent’s scoring:the keeper made a great save
• Bridgeanother term for sacrifice.

• 2 Computing an act of saving data to a storage location, usually the hard drive:the recovery feature enables you to retrieve most of the edits you made since the last save