Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Free from danger or injury; undamaged or unhurt.
  • adjective Not exposed to the threat of danger or harm.
  • adjective Usable in specified conditions without being damaged. Often used in combination.
  • adjective Free from risk; not liable to be lost; sure.
  • adjective Affording protection.
  • adjective Baseball Having reached a base without being put out, as a batter or base runner.
  • noun A metal container usually having a lock, used for storing valuables.
  • noun A repository for protecting stored items, especially a cooled compartment for perishable foods.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To render safe.
  • To escort to safety; safeguard.
  • Unharmed; unscathed; without having received injury or hurt: as, to arrive safe and sound; to bring goods safe to land.
  • Free from risk or danger; secure from harm or liability to harm or injury: as, a safe place; a safe harbor; safe from disease, enemies, etc.
  • Secure; not dangerous or liable to cause injury or harm; not likely to expose to danger: as, a safe bridge; the building was pronounced safe; the safe side of a file (the uncut side, also called the safe-edge).
  • No longer dangerous; placed beyond the power of doing harm.
  • Sound; whole; good.
  • Trusty; trustworthy: as, a safe adviser.
  • Sure; certain.
  • Synonyms and Safe, Secure. These words once conformed in meaning to their derivations, safe implying free from danger present or prospective, and secure free from fear or anxiety about danger; they are so used in the quotation. Now the two words are essentially synonymous, except that secure is perhaps stronger, especially in emphasizing freedom from occasion to fear.
  • noun Safety.
  • noun A place or structure for the storage of money, papers, or valuables in safety from risk of theft or fire.
  • noun A receptacle for the storage of meat and provisions. It is usually a skeleton frame of wood covered with fine wire netting to keep out insects.
  • noun Any receptacle for storing things in safety: as, a match-safe, milk-safe, coin-safe, etc.
  • noun A floating box or car for confining living fish.
  • noun A sheet of lead with the sides turned up, placed under a plumbing fixture to catch moisture or fluids due to leaks or carelessness, and thus protect floors and ceilings.
  • noun In saddlery, a piece of leather placed beneath a buckle to prevent chafing.
  • noun In distilling, a closed vessel attached by a pipe to the worm of a still, for the retention of a sample of the product, to be subsequently inspected by excise officers.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Free from harm, injury, or risk; untouched or unthreatened by danger or injury; unharmed; unhurt; secure; whole.
  • adjective Conferring safety; securing from harm; not exposing to danger; confining securely; to be relied upon; not dangerous
  • adjective Incapable of doing harm; no longer dangerous; in secure care or custody.
  • adjective (Baseball) a hit which enables the batter to get to first base even if no error is made by the other side.
  • noun A strong and fireproof receptacle (as a movable chest of steel, etc., or a closet or vault of brickwork) for containing money, valuable papers, or the like.
  • noun A ventilated or refrigerated chest or closet for securing provisions from noxious animals or insects.
  • transitive verb obsolete To render safe; to make right.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Not in danger; free from harm's reach.
  • adjective Free from risk; harmless, riskless.
  • adjective Providing protection from danger; providing shelter.
  • adjective baseball When a batter successfully reaches first base, or when a baserunner successfully advances to the next base or returns to the base he last occupied; not out.
  • adjective Properly secured; secure.
  • adjective Not in danger from the specified source of harm.
  • adjective UK, slang Great, cool, awesome, respectable; a term of approbation.
  • adjective Reliable.
  • adjective Cautious.
  • noun A box, usually made of metal, in which valuables can be locked for safekeeping.
  • noun slang A condom.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun strongbox where valuables can be safely kept
  • adjective (of an undertaking) secure from risk
  • noun contraceptive device consisting of a sheath of thin rubber or latex that is worn over the penis during intercourse
  • adjective having reached a base without being put out
  • adjective financially sound

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English sauf, from Old French, from Latin salvus, healthy; see sol- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English safe, saf, saaf, from Old French sauf, saulf, salf ("safe"), from Latin salvus ("whole, safe"), from Proto-Indo-European *salw-, *solw-, *slōw- (“safe, healthy”).

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Examples

  • Nebraska safe haven law reveals societal hypocrisy yahooBuzzArticleHeadline = 'Nebraska safe haven law reveals societal hypocrisy'; yahooBuzzArticleSummary = 'Article: Officials want to revise the law to limit \'safe haven\' to abandoned newborns one and younger, in line with other states.

    Nebraska safe haven law reveals societal hypocrisy 2008

  • A common player sign-off in Eve-Online is "fly safe", as in "I must go to bed, *fly safe* everyone."

    November 2007 2007

  • VIEW FAVORITES yahooBuzzArticleHeadline = 'Pentagon conducting research into adverse effects of anthrax vaccine while maintaining it is safe'; yahooBuzzArticleSummary = 'While conducting research on adverse effects of the military\'s mandatory anthrax vaccine, the Pentagon continues to maintain that it is \'safe for usage.

    OpEdNews - Quicklink: Pentagon conducting research into adverse effects of anthrax vaccine while maintaining it is safe 2007

  • A common player sign-off in Eve-Online is "fly safe", as in "I must go to bed, *fly safe* everyone."

    Fly safe 2007

  • Cuz OBL is outside this nation you see so Safer yes, as safe as the President says we are…..safe.

    Think Progress » Fox News Reports — And Decides: America Is Safer 2006

  • This phrase "be safe" occurs again in verse 28, and again in the last verse of the psalm, where _quam nisi -- salvus esse non poterit_ should be translated _which except a man have believed faithfully and firmly, he cannot be safe_.

    The Prayer Book Explained Percival Jackson

  • Again there appeared a picture of the room, the window beyond, the mail clerk asleep at his desk, everything as before, except that where the safe had been, _there was a shadowy, half visible safe_, the metal glowing brightly.

    The Black Star Passes John Wood Campbell 1940

  • "Take her," she said to Mrs. Gale, as she gave her the baby, "keep her safe -- _safe_!"

    Patty and Azalea Carolyn Wells 1902

  • "Perhaps," Marco had heard Loristan say to him almost severely, once when he had forgotten himself and had stood at salute while his master passed through a broken-down iron gate before an equally broken-down-looking lodging-house -- "perhaps you can force yourself to remember when I tell you that it is not safe -- _it is not safe_!

    The Lost Prince Frances Hodgson Burnett 1886

  • That's why the term "safe sex" even came about -- sex is easily the most common way to transmit or "catch" HIV.

    Thomas P. Connelly, D.D.S.: Can You Get HIV From Kissing? D.D.S. Thomas P. Connelly 2011

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  • Can you explain that image?

    February 20, 2007