salve
salve Lexical Profile
salve Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A soothing, medicinal ointment or cream applied to the skin to promote healing or relieve pain and irritation.
"The herbalist prepared a soothing calendula salve to treat the hiker's sunburned skin."
Something that comforts, consoles, or eases hurt feelings, guilt, or an uneasy conscience.
"His sincere apology acted as a much-needed salve for their strained friendship."
• verb
To soothe, ease, or appease (especially one's conscience, wounded pride, or distress).
"He made a generous donation to charity primarily to salve his guilty conscience."
To apply a healing ointment or medicinal preparation to (a wound, sore, or irritated skin).
"The nurse gently salved the patient's burns before wrapping them in sterile gauze."
To save or rescue (a ship or its cargo) from loss, shipwreck, or destruction at sea.
"Tugboat crews worked through the gale to salve the stranded freighter's cargo before the hull broke apart."
Word Nuance & Usage
In the common medical and figurative senses meaning 'ointment' or 'to soothe', the 'l' is traditionally silent in standard American and British pronunciation (/sæv/ or /sɑːv/), whereas in the rarer maritime sense meaning 'to salvage', the 'l' is pronounced (/sælv/).
• Rhymes for salve
Word Origin & Etymology
The healing sense derives from Old English sealf ('healing ointment'), of West Germanic origin and related to German Salbe. The distinct maritime sense meaning 'to salvage' was back-formed in the 18th century from salvage, ultimately from Latin salvare ('to save').