30 August 2018
salve(1)
[sav, sahv]
noun
1. a medicinal ointment for healing or relieving wounds and sores.
2. anything that soothes, mollifies, or relieves.
verb (used with object), salved, salving.
3. to soothe with or as if with salve; assuage:
to salve one’s conscience.
Origin of salve(1)
Middle English, Old English
900 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
3. ease, alleviate, mollify.
salve(2)
[salv]
verb (used with or without object), salved, salving.
1. to save from loss or destruction; to salvage.
Origin
First recorded in 1700-10; back formation from salvage
salve(3)
[sal-vee; Latin sahl-wey]
interjection
1. hail!
Origin
1400-50; late Middle English < Latin salvē! literally, be in good health!; cf. salute
Dictionary.com
Examples from the Web for salve
Contemporary Examples
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
His only salve has been counting down the days until graduation.
Mormon U. Forces Gays to Be Celibate
Emily Shire
May 13, 2014
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
“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
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
Historical Examples
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.
The Siege of Boston
Allen French
Today’s quote
Lighthouses don’t go running all over an island looking for boats to save. They just stand there shining.
– Anne Lamott
On this day
30 August 580 – birth of Muhammad, prophet and founder of Islam.
30 August 1146 – European leaders optimistically outlaw the cross-bow with the belief that it will end war for evermore. The ban was flouted and cross-bows continued to be used until they were replaced by fire-arms in the 16th century.
30 August 2003 – Death of Charles Bronson, American actor. Born 3 November 1921 as Charles Dennis Buchinsky.