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definitions

salve

1
[sav, sahv]
See more synonyms for salve on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a medicinal ointment for healing or relieving wounds and sores.
  2. anything that soothes, mollifies, or relieves.
verb (used with object), salved, salv·ing.
  1. to soothe with or as if with salve; assuage: to salve one's conscience.

Origin of salve

1
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

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3. ease, alleviate, mollify.

salve

2
[salv]
verb (used with or without object), salved, salv·ing.
  1. to save from loss or destruction; to salvage.

Origin of salve

2
First recorded in 1700–10; back formation from salvage

salve

3
[sal-vee; Latin sahl-wey]
interjection
  1. hail!

Origin of salve

3
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. 2018

Related Words for salve

balm, lotion, pacify, mollify, assuage, unburden, alleviate, medication, help, unction, liniment, unguent, remedy, cure, aid, dressing, medicine, lubricant, cream, cerate

Examples from the Web for salve

Contemporary Examples of salve

Historical Examples of salve

  • He spoke with the sureness of a man of wealth, confident that money will salve any wound.

    Within the Law

    Marvin Dana

  • And this time the thing he wanted was to get the dervish to rub some of the salve on his other eye.

    Tom Sawyer Abroad

    Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)

  • And he hollered the first thing that "he wanted some of Hall's salve."

    Samantha Among the Brethren, Part 2.

    Josiah Allen's Wife (Marietta Holley)

  • His wounded pride demanded a salve to be procured at any cost.

    The Snare

    Rafael Sabatini

  • But Gage was endeavoring to salve his smart and conceal his own shame.

British Dictionary definitions for salve

salve

1
noun
  1. an ointment for wounds, sores, etc
  2. anything that heals or soothes
verb (tr)
  1. to apply salve to (a wound, sore, etc)
  2. to soothe, comfort, or appease

Word Origin for salve

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

salve

2
verb
  1. a less common word for salvage
  2. 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
n.

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.

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.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
salve in Medicine

salve

[săv, säv]
n.
  1. An analgesic or medicinal ointment.
Related formssalve v.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.