save-all

[ seyv-awl ]

noun

1. a means, contrivance, or receptacle for preventing loss or waste.
2. Older Use. overalls ( def 3 ).
3. Nautical.
   1. a net secured between a pier and a ship, beneath cargo being transferred from one to the other.
   2. a sail for utilizing wind spilled from the regular sails of a vessel: used in very light winds.

save-all

noun

1. a device to prevent waste or loss
2. nautical
   1. a net used while loading a ship
   2. a light sail set to catch wind spilling from another sail
3. dialect.
   overalls or a pinafore
4. a dialect word for miser 1

Word History and Origins

Origin of save-all¹

First recorded in 1635–45; noun use of verb phrase save all

Example Sentences

As significant an improvement as it would be, a public option is still not a save-all for our health-care system.

From Time

“Much like chemotherapy and radiotherapy, it’s not going to be a save-all,” Riddell said of the new therapy, adding: “I think immunotherapy has finally made it to a pillar of cancer therapy.”

From The Guardian

Despite the evidence suggesting TASERs need to be used judiciously, officers faith in the save-all nature of the weapons has lead to what some criminologists call “lazy cop syndrome.”

From MSNBC

In the 1960s, for example, “concrete was seen as the great save-all — it’s taken years to remove old restorations,” said Antonio Varone, a former director of the excavations at Pompeii.

From New York Times

D Dairy, the business of, generally carried on as a save-all, 96.

From Project Gutenberg