salve

[sav, sahv]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR salve ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a medicinal ointment for healing or relieving wounds and sores.

anything that soothes, mollifies, or relieves.

verb (used with object), salved, salv·ing.

to soothe with or as if with salve; assuage: to salve one's conscience.

Nearby words

Origin of salve

before 900; (noun) Middle English; Old English sealf; cognate with German Salbe salve, Sanskrit sarpis melted butter; (v.) Middle English salven, Old English sealfian

SYNONYMS FOR salve

3. ease, alleviate, mollify.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR salve ON THESAURUS.COM

salve

[salv]

verb (used with or without object), salved, salv·ing.

to save from loss or destruction; to salvage.

Origin of salve

First recorded in 1700–10; back formation from salvage

salve

[sal-vee; Latin sahl-wey]

interjection

hail!

Origin of salve

1400–50; late Middle English < Latin salvē! literally, be in good health!; cf. salute

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for salve

Its readership expands in times when more of us need its particular brand of salve.
What the Forward Prize Doesn’t Recognize About Poets|Mandy Kahn|July 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
His only salve has been counting down the days until graduation.
Mormon U. Forces Gays to Be Celibate|Emily Shire|May 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Then came remedies: the powder, the salve, the wondrous elixir.
New Study Says Doctors Can’t “Just Say No” to Their Patients|Kent Sepkowitz|March 31, 2014|DAILY BEAST
“Anything that tries to solve an issue in Northern Ireland, to put a salve on it, tends to enflame the situation,” he said.
Belfast in Chaos After Days of Protestant Rioting, Police Injuries|Nico Hines|July 16, 2013|DAILY BEAST

In France, we are supposed to salve our consciences with the knowledge that draft horses are raised to be eaten.
My Horsemeat Lunch|Christopher Dickey|February 27, 2013|DAILY BEAST
You will forgive him, I say, and he will give you something in the shape of a—salve for your wounds.
The Tithe-Proctor|William Carleton
Bring hither the salve, says he, and give her a plentiful draught of my cordial.
The History of John Bull|John Arbuthnot
Shūzen's experience, however, noted past profit as salve to annoyance.
Bakemono Yashiki (The Haunted House)|James S. De Benneville
For what have all previous generations laboured, legislating, studying to salve human ills?
Eighteen Months in the War Zone|Kate John Finzi
We used the grease of the pig as a salve, and made him a pair of moccasins out of an old shirt and the tail of his blouse.
The Bright Side of Prison Life|Samuel A. Swiggett

British Dictionary definitions for salve

salve

noun

an ointment for wounds, sores, etc

anything that heals or soothes

verb (tr)

to apply salve to (a wound, sore, etc)

to soothe, comfort, or appease

Word Origin for salve

Old English sealf; related to Old High German salba, Greek elpos oil, Sanskrit sarpis lard

verb

a less common word for salvage

an archaic word for save 1 (def. 3)

Word Origin for salve

C18: from salvage

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for salve

salve

Old English sealf "healing ointment," from West Germanic *salbo- "oily substance" (cf. Old Saxon salba, Middle Dutch salve, Dutch zalf, Old High German salba, German salbe "ointment"), from PIE *solpa-, from root *selp- "fat, butter" (cf. Greek elpos "fat, oil," Sanskrit sarpis "melted butter"). The figurative sense of "something to soothe wounded pride, etc." is from 1736.

salve

v.1

Old English sealfian "anoint (a wound) with salve," from Proto-Germanic *salbojanan (cf. Dutch zalven, German salben, Gothic salbon "to anoint"), from the root of salve (n.). Figurative use from c.1200. Related: Salved; salving.

v.2

"to save from loss at sea," 1706, back-formation from salvage (n.) or salvable. Related: Salved; salving.

Medicine definitions for salve

salve

[săv, säv]

n.

An analgesic or medicinal ointment.

Related formssalve v.

salve

noun

verb (used with object), salved, salv·ing.

RELATED WORDS

Nearby words

Origin of salve

salve

verb (used with or without object), salved, salv·ing.

Origin of salve

salve

interjection

Origin of salve

Examples from the Web for salve

salve

noun

verb (tr)

Word Origin for salve

verb

Word Origin for salve

salve

salve

salve

n.