rescue
Americanverb (used with object)
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to free or deliver from confinement, danger, or difficulty: She rescued me from an awkward conversation.
The police were able to rescue the hostages in time.
She rescued me from an awkward conversation.
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Law. to liberate or take by forcible or illegal means from lawful custody.
noun
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the act of rescuing.
- Synonyms:
- emancipation, redemption, release, deliverance, liberation
-
the act of rescuing animals from danger, abuse, or neglect, as the adoption of stray and abandoned animals from an animal shelter, or the protection of wild animals in an animal sanctuary.
Animal rescue requires cooperation between animal control agencies and shelters.
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a group or organization that participates in such animal welfare activities: breed-specific rescues.
your local rescue;
breed-specific rescues.
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a domestic animal adopted from an animal shelter or other animal welfare group.
Our new puppy is a rescue!
adjective
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of or relating to someone or something trained or equipped to rescue.
The county's three certified rescue dogs and their handlers searched for earthquake survivors in the rubble.
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of or relating to a domestic animal adopted or available for adoption from an animal shelter or other animal welfare group.
rescue puppies and kittens looking for loving families.
verb
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to bring (someone or something) out of danger, attack, harm, etc; deliver or save
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to free (a person) from legal custody by force
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law to seize (goods or property) by force
noun
-
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the act or an instance of rescuing
-
( as modifier )
a rescue party
-
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the forcible removal of a person from legal custody
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law the forcible seizure of goods or property
Other Word Forms
- nonrescue noun
- quasi-rescued adjective
- rescuable adjective
- rescueless adjective
- rescuer noun
- unrescuable adjective
- unrescued adjective
Etymology
Origin of rescue
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English verb rescuen, from Old French rescourre, equivalent to re- + escourre “to shake, drive out, remove,” from Latin excutere ( ex- + -cutere, combining form of quatere “to shake”); re-, ex- 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Another awkwardly titled but affecting rescue movie, in this case about an American soldier in Afghanistan and his interpreter toward the end of America’s ill-fated fight against a resurgent Taliban.
We wanted pasta that stretched and sighed, casseroles that arrived bubbling and bronzed, soups that tasted like something rescued from memory and improved by adulthood.
From Salon
In January, three tigers and a leopard died at a wildlife rescue centre in India's Nagpur city from the virus that typically infects birds.
From BBC
"Everyone really mobbed him so a member of staff quickly rescued him and put him behind the desk for a cheeky photo by our celebrity leaderboard, and then he ran away and left."
From BBC
On Instagram he frequently shares videos and pictures of rescue cat Maximus, who he adopted for the prime minister's office after taking power.
From Barron's
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
