save-all
[seyv-awl]
- a means, contrivance, or receptacle for preventing loss or waste.
- Older Use. overalls(def 3).
- Nautical.
- a net secured between a pier and a ship, beneath cargo being transferred from one to the other.
- a sail for utilizing wind spilled from the regular sails of a vessel: used in very light winds.
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Origin of save-all
First recorded in 1635–45; noun use of verb phrase save all
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for save-all
Historical Examples
DDairy, the business of, generally carried on as a save-all, 96.
Under every lamp stands a sort of "save-all," consisting of a small skin basket for catching the oil that falls over.
The business of the dairy, like the feeding of hogs and poultry, is originally carried on as a save-all.
Another curious illuminating appurtenance was called a save-all or candle-wedge.
Customs and Fashions in Old New EnglandAlice Morse Earle
A save-all, or small sail, set occasionally under the lower studding-sail or driver-boom, in a fair wind and smooth sea.
The Sailor's Word-BookWilliam Henry Smyth
save-all
- a device to prevent waste or loss
- nautical
- a net used while loading a ship
- a light sail set to catch wind spilling from another sail
- dialect overalls or a pinafore
- British a dialect word for miser 1
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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