res|cue

res|cue «REHS kyoo», verb, -cued, -cu|ing, noun.

–v.t.

1. to save from danger, capture, or harm; free; deliver: »

The firemen rescued the children from the burning house.

2. Law. a) to take (a person) forcibly or unlawfully from a jail, policeman, or other person or place o authority. b) to take (property) from legal custody.

–n.

1. the act or fact of saving or freeing from danger, capture, or harm: »

A dog was chasing our cat when your brother came to the rescue.

2. Law. the forcible or unlawful taking of a person or thing from the care of the law.

╂[< Old French rescou-, stem of rescourre < re- again + escourre to shake, stir < Latin excutere < ex- out + quatere to shake]

–res´cu|er, noun.

Synonym Study transitive verb. 1 Rescue, deliver mean to save or free from danger, harm, or restraint. Rescue means to save a person by quick and forceful action from immediate or threatened danger or harm, such as death, injury, attack, capture, or confinement: »

Searchers rescued the campers lost in the mountains.

Deliver means to set someone free from something holding him in captivity or under its power or control, such as prison, slavery, oppression, suffering, temptation, or evil: »

Moses delivered the Israelites from bondage.