salve
/sæ(l)v/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.81 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To heal by applications or medicaments; to apply salve to; to anoint.
verb
To save (the appearances or the phenomena); to explain (a celestial phenomenon); to account for (the apparent motions of the celestial bodies).
Obsolete
verb
To resolve (a difficulty); to refute (an objection); to harmonize (an apparent contradiction).
Obsolete
Example Sentences
- "Your forgiveness was a salve to my conscience and a balm to my wounded ego."
- "[Title:] Tame March PCE inflation no salve after downbeat Q1 US GDP report"
- "She feels guilty for pampering him, and salves her conscience by bossily ordering him to go and fetch the clothes from the line[.]"
- "I do beseech your majesty […] salve the long-grown wounds of my intemperance.""
- "But Ebranck salved both their infamies / With noble deedes."
- "What may we do, then, to salve this seeming inconsistence?"
Etymology
From Middle English salve, from Old English sealf, from Proto-West Germanic *salbu, from Proto-Germanic *salbō, from Proto-Indo-European *solp-éh₂, from *selp- (“salve, ointment”). Cognates Cognate with Middle Low German salve (Danish salve, Dutch zalf), Old High German salba (German Salbe), Gothic 𐍃𐌰𐌻𐌱𐍉𐌽𐍃 (salbōns), Albanian gjalpë (“butter”), Sanskrit सर्पिस् (sarpís), Ancient Greek ἔλπος (élpos).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /sæ(l)v/
- British English: /sɑːv/