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salvage.

The rescue of a ship, its crew and passengers or its cargo from a hazardous situation.

7 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈsælvɪd͡ʒ/
  1. The rescue of a ship, its crew and passengers or its cargo from a hazardous situation.

    countable · uncountable
  2. The ship, crew or cargo so rescued.

    countable · uncountable
  3. The compensation paid to the rescuers.

    countable · uncountable
  4. The money from the sale of rescued goods.

    countable · uncountable
  5. The similar rescue of property liable to loss; the property so rescued.

    countable · uncountable
  6. The process of acquiring, dismantling, and stocking the pieces of old property such as ships, houses, and vehicles, so that they can be sold on to be reused or recycled.

    countable · uncountable
  7. Anything put to good use that would otherwise have been wasted, such as damaged goods.

    attributive · countable · sometimes · uncountable
    salvage cars auction
Where this word comes from

From Old French salver (see also save, from a variant form), from Late Latin salvare (“to make safe, secure, save”), from Latin salvus (“safe”) with the English suffix -age.

verb/ˈsælvɪd͡ʒ/
  1. To rescue.

    transitive
  2. To modify (a false proposition) to create a true proposition.

    transitive
    Prove or disprove, and salvage if possible.
  3. To put to use.

    transitive
  4. To make new or restore for the use of being saved.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

From Old French salver (see also save, from a variant form), from Late Latin salvare (“to make safe, secure, save”), from Latin salvus (“safe”) with the English suffix -age.

noun/ˈsælvɪd͡ʒ/
  1. Summary execution, extrajudicial killing.

    Philippines
Where this word comes from

Borrowed from Spanish salvaje, from Catalan salvatge, from Late Latin *salvāticus, alteration of Latin silvāticus (“wild”, literally “of the woods”). Confused false friends; English salvage and Tagalog salbahe (“mischievous, naughty”).

verb/ˈsælvɪd͡ʒ/
  1. To perform summary execution.

    Philippines
  2. To apprehend and execute (a suspected criminal) without trial.

    Philippines
Where this word comes from

Borrowed from Spanish salvaje, from Catalan salvatge, from Late Latin *salvāticus, alteration of Latin silvāticus (“wild”, literally “of the woods”). Confused false friends; English salvage and Tagalog salbahe (“mischievous, naughty”).

noun/ˈsælvɪd͡ʒ/
  1. Obsolete spelling of savage.

    alt-of · obsolete
Where this word comes from

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.