rescue English · revision 4940

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1300|origins=la excutere}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈres.kjuː/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|rescouen]], rescuwen, [[bor|fro|rescou-]], the stem of rescourre “to protect, free, deliver”,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) formed from [[re-]], here intensive, and escourre “to shake out, cast off”,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) from Latin excutere “to shake off, drive away”,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from ex- “out” and quatere “to shake”,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) the source of [[quash]].^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) The idea is of shaking a captive out of the enemy's hands.^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ To deliver someone from an enemy's attack or restraint, or from harm: about 1300 in Etymonline and Barnhart, in Guy of Warwick;^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) the 13th century in the OED.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ To relieve a besieged castle or town is from about 1330.^(OED 1989) To free someone from legal custody by force is from 1600,^(OED 1989) a sense used in the 17th and 18th centuries.^(Etymonline) The noun, the act of rescuing, is from the late 14th century (about 1380 in Barnhart);^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) an earlier noun, rescous, from Old French rescous, was kept in legal use until the 1760s.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) ''Rescuer'' is from the 1530s.^(Etymonline) As an adjective, rescue was used from 1888 by William Booth of work to reclaim fallen women and the intemperate, hence ''rescue mission''.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) A ''rescue opera'' is by 1935,^(Etymonline) and ''rescue archaeology'', emergency digging before building, from 1969.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1300 – to save from harm.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1330 – to relieve a siege.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1380 – noun, a rescue.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1530s – ''rescuer''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1600 – to free from custody by force.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1888 – rescue work.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1969 – ''rescue archaeology''.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To save someone or something from [[danger]], harm or a difficult situation.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(law)'' To free a person or goods from legal custody by force.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # The act of rescuing, or the state of being rescued.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[rescuable]]

+ * [[rescuer]]

+ * [[rescueless]]

+ * [[unrescued]]

+ * [[nonrescue]]

+ * [[pararescue]]

+ * [[rescue grass]]

+ * [[rescue mission]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[quash]]

+ * [[concussion]]

+ * [[percussion]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}