Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Preserve

Pre·serve′, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Preserved; p. pr. & vb. n. Preserving.] [F. préserver, from L. prae before + servare to save, preserve; cf. L. praeservare to observe beforehand. See Serve.] 1. To keep or save from injury or destruction; to guard or defend from evil, harm, danger, etc.; to protect.

O Lord, thou preserved man and beast. Ps. xxxvi. 6.

Now, good angels preserve the king. Shak.

2. To save from decay by the use of some preservative substance, as sugar, salt, etc.; to season and prepare for remaining in a good state, as fruits, meat, etc.; as, to preserve peaches or grapes.

You can not preserve it from tainting. Shak.

3. To maintain throughout; to keep intact; as, to preserve appearances; to preserve silence.

To preserve game, to protect it from extermination.

Syn. — To keep; save; secure; uphold; sustain; defend; spare; protect; guard; shield. See Keep.

Pre·serve′, v. i. 1. To make preserves. Shak.

2. To protect game for purposes of sport.

Pre·serve′, n. 1. That which is preserved; fruit, etc., seasoned and kept by suitable preparation; esp., fruit cooked with sugar; — commonly in the plural.

2. A place in which game, fish, etc., are preserved for purposes of sport, or for food.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.