save-all

American  

[seyv-awl] / ˈseɪvˌɔl /

noun

1. a means, contrivance, or receptacle for preventing loss or waste.

2. Older Use. overalls.

3. Nautical.

   1. a net secured between a pier and a ship, beneath cargo being transferred from one to the other.

   2. a sail for utilizing wind spilled from the regular sails of a vessel: used in very light winds.

---

save-all British  

noun

1. a device to prevent waste or loss

2. nautical

   1. a net used while loading a ship

   2. a light sail set to catch wind spilling from another sail

3. dialect overalls or a pinafore

4. a dialect word for miser 1

---

Etymology

Origin of save-all

First recorded in 1635–45; noun use of verb phrase save all

Example Sentences

All candles, whatever their material, were carefully used by the economical colonists to the last bit by a little wire frame of pins and rings called a save-all.

From Home Life in Colonial Days by Earle, Alice Morse

For this reason the trough into which it falls from the revolving "wire" is called the "save-all."

From A Book of Exposition by Nugent, Homer Heath

A prayer-book, which he seldom handles A save-all and two farthing candles.

From The Poems of Jonathan Swift, D.D., Volume 2 by Browning, William Ernst

Under every lamp stands a sort of "save-all," consisting of a small skin basket for catching the oil that falls over.

From 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 by Parry, William Edward, Sir

Another curious illuminating appurtenance was called a save-all or candle-wedge.

From Customs and Fashions in Old New England by Earle, Alice Morse