From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
rescue
n 1: recovery or preservation from loss or danger; "work is the
deliverance of mankind"; "a surgeon's job is the saving of
lives" [syn: rescue, deliverance, delivery, saving]
v 1: free from harm or evil [syn: rescue, deliver]
2: take forcibly from legal custody; "rescue prisoners"
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Rescue \Res"cue\ (r[e^]s"k[-u]), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Rescued
(-k?d);p. pr. & vb. n. Rescuing.] [OE. rescopuen, OF.
rescourre, rescurre, rescorre; L. pref. re- re- + excutere to
shake or drive out; ex out + quatere to shake. See Qtash to
crush, Rercussion.]
To free or deliver from any confinement, violence, danger, or
evil; to liberate from actual restraint; to remove or
withdraw from a state of exposure to evil; as, to rescue a
prisoner from the enemy; to rescue seamen from destruction.
[1913 Webster]
Had I been seized by a hungry lion,
I would have been a breakfast to the best,
Rather than have false Proteus rescue me. --Shak.
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Syn: To retake; recapture; free; deliver; liberate; release;
save.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Rescue \Res"cue\ (r[e^]s"k[-u]), n. [From Rescue, v.; cf.
Rescous.]
[1913 Webster]
1. The act of rescuing; deliverance from restraint, violence,
or danger; liberation.
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Spur to the rescue of the noble Talbot. --Shak.
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2. (Law)
(a) The forcible retaking, or taking away, against law, of
things lawfully distrained.
(b) The forcible liberation of a person from an arrest or
imprisonment.
(c) The retaking by a party captured of a prize made by
the enemy. --Bouvier.
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The rescue of a prisoner from the court is
punished with perpetual imprisonment and
forfeiture of goods. --Blackstone.
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Rescue grass. [Etymol. uncertain.] (Bot.) A tall grass
(Ceratochloa unioloides) somewhat resembling chess,
cultivated for hay and forage in the Southern States.
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