save-all

[seyv-awl]

noun

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.

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. 2019

Examples from the Web for save-all

Historical Examples of save-all

DDairy, the business of, generally carried on as a save-all, 96.
An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
Adam Smith
Under every lamp stands a sort of "save-all," consisting of a small skin basket for catching the oil that falls over.
Three Voyages for the Discovery of a Northwest Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and Narrative of an Attempt to Reach the North Pole, Volume 2 (of 2)
Sir William Edward Parry
The business of the dairy, like the feeding of hogs and poultry, is originally carried on as a save-all.
An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
Adam Smith
Another curious illuminating appurtenance was called a save-all or candle-wedge.
Customs and Fashions in Old New England
Alice 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-Book
William Henry Smyth

British Dictionary definitions for save-all

save-all

noun

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

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