▪ I. preserve, n.
(prɪˈzɜːv)
[f. next.]
† 1. a. A preserving agent; a preservative. Obs.
| 1552 Lyndesay Monarche 4926 Off Malideis it generis mony mo,—Bot gyf men gett sum Souerane preserue. 1594 Greene & Lodge Looking Glass G.'s Wks. (Rtldg.) 124/1 Fetch balsamo, the kind preserve of life. 1627–77 Feltham Resolves ii. xliii. 242 Plainness and freedom are the preserves of amity. 1839 J. D. Hooker in L. Huxley Life J. D. Hooker (1918) I. 43 That Capt. Ross did not intend to treat me thus..I am sure, from his asking me to tell the quantity of preserves for animals required. |
b. Weak spectacles intended to preserve the sight (Sc.). c. Goggles used to protect the eyes from dust, excess of light, etc.
| 1808 Jamieson, Preserves, spectacles, which magnify little or nothing. 1883 J. Purves in Contemp. Rev. Sept. 354 He will at a corner throw off his coat..and be at work stone-breaking with preserves on his eyes. 1887 A. Bruce in Encycl. Brit. XXII. 372/2 Preserves are used to conceal deformities or to protect the eyes in the many conditions where they cannot tolerate bright light. 1893 J. Watson Conf. Poacher 146 We carried about us stone-breakers' hammers, and ‘preserves’ for the eyes. Ibid. 147 The preserves cover the face. |
2. A confectionary preparation of fruit or other vegetable products preserved with sugar; jam; often in pl. (cf. conserves).
| 1600 Surflet Countrie Farme ii. li. 350 There is but very seldome any preserues made of the flowers and leaues of herbes; I vnderstand by this preserue taken properly, the preseruing of things whole and not stampt and beaten into one bodie. 1670 Capt. J. Smith Eng. Improv. Reviv'd 198 The Syrops, Conserves, and Preserves of the said Berries are of great use in a Family. 1794 A. M. Bennett Ellen I. 8 A great manager, who..made the best pastry, pickles and preserves in the Kingdom. 1854 Mrs. Gaskell North & S. xx, Perhaps, I might take her a little preserve, made of our dear Helstone fruit. 1888 J. C. Harris Free Joe, etc. 87 My companion had a theory of his own that ginger-preserves and fruit-cake were not good for sick people. |
† 3. A thing preserved. Obs. rare—1.
| a 1682 Sir T. Browne Mummies Wks. 1835 IV. 273 Wonderful indeed are the preserves of time, which openeth unto us mummies from crypts and pyramids. |
4. a. A wood or other ground set apart for the protection and rearing of game; a pond or piece of water for fish; a vivarium.
| 1807 Windham Sp. 22 July (1812) III. 32 They secured them as country-gentlemen do the game in those places near their houses, which, by an odd misnomer, are sometimes called ‘the preserve’, where the game are, indeed, preserved, but only till some circumstance..shall furnish an occasion for falling upon them with redoubled fury. 1814 P. Hawker Diary (1893) I. 103 The pheasants from Lord Portsmouth's preserves. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. iii. I. 290 The moats were turned into preserves of carp and pike. 1867 Trollope Chron. Barset II. lvii. 135 A husband with broad acres, a big house, and game preserves. |
b. transf. and fig.
| 1829 Moore Mem. (1854) VI. 44 Taken to the Ancient Music by Lord Essex..and sat in ‘the preserve’, as the directors' box is called. 1862 ‘Shirley’ Nugæ Crit. ii. 134 A man unendowed with this capacity, when turned loose in a historical preserve, wanders about blindly and aimlessly, committing the most flagrant blunders. 1882 C. Pebody Eng. Journalism xxi. 155 The expresses of the Times and the Morning Chronicle..did a good deal to disturb the quiet preserves of the Provincial Press. 1897 Daily News 2 Feb. 5/2 In the Colonies..we have not so much neutral markets, as preserves. |
5. attrib. and Comb., as (sense 2) preserve-can, preserve-dish, preserve-jar, preserve-pot.
| 1882 W. D. Hay Brighter Britain! I. v. 138 There were empty preserve-cans, gallipots, and oyster-shells! |
| 1856 M. J. Holmes 'Lena Rivers 108 The big preserve dish got broken. 1867 G. W. Harris Sut Lovingood 92 Preserve jars, vinegar jugs, seed bags, yarb bunches..all mix'd. 1885 E. P. Roe Nature's Serial Story xliii. 307 Racoons..will uncover preserve-jars.., and with the certainty of a toper uncork a bottle and get drunk on its contents. 1969 R. & D. De Sola Dict. Cooking 183/2 Preserve jar, jar or pot for holding homemade preserves. |
| 1854 Thoreau Walden 235 He goes to the mill-pond, she to her preserve-pot. |
▪ II. preserve, v.
(prɪˈzɜːv)
[a. F. préserver ‘to save from an evil that might happen’ (14–15th c. in Hatz.-Darm.), ad. late L. præservāre (Hilary) to preserve, f. præ before + servāre to keep, protect.]
1. trans. To keep safe from harm or injury; to keep in safety, save, take care of, guard. Const. from († of, out of).
| 1375 Barbour Bruce i. 608 God of mycht Preserwyt him till hyer hycht, That wald nocht that he swa war dede. 1390 Gower Conf. II. 86 Forto kepe and to preserve The bodi fro siknesses alle. c 1430 Lydg. in Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1866) 26 Daniel lay..preseruyd in prison with lyouns. 1483 Caxton Cato C ij b, Thus was the cytee kept and preserued of the pestylence. 1605 Shakes. Lear ii. iii. 6 Whiles I may scape I will preserue myselfe. 1606 G. W[oodcocke] Hist. Ivstine xxxix. 125 To preserue her out of captiuity. 1621 T. Williamson tr. Goulart's Wise Vieillard 22 Who braggingly gaue it out, that hee had a receipt would preserue a man from growing old. 1748 Anson's Voy. ii. ix. 229 Instructions..to the officers to preserve themselves from being seen from the shore. 1800 Addison Amer. Law Rep. 142 Perhaps..reasons which would preserve a presumed innocent man from a second trial would not preserve a presumed guilty man. |
b. In invocations. Now esp. Sc. (with ellipsis).
| 1467 Mann. & Househ. Exp. (Roxb.) 173 Jesewes..preserve ȝowe my moste drede soveren lord in his blesed safegard. 1535 in Lett. Suppress. Monasteries (Camden) 84 Jhesu preserve yow in helthe with myche honore. 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, ii. iv. 315 Oh, the Lord preserue thy good Grace. 1796 R. Gall Tint Quey Poems (1819) 28 She cried, ‘Preserve us! whare's the cow?’ 1885 ‘J. Strathesk’ More Bits iii. (ed. 2) 42 Preserve me, George, that's liker a ‘risp’ than a razor! 1899 Crockett Kit Kennedy iii. 20 Preserve us a' ― we mauna raise a finger against the brat. |
2. To keep alive, keep from perishing (arch.); to keep in existence, keep from decay, make lasting (a material thing, a name, a memory).
| [1390 Gower Conf. III. 221 If a king the lif preserve Of him which oghte forto dye. c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 62 O welle of swetnes..That al mankynd preserved hast fro dethe.] 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 130 Peter Wirtemie beyng in daunger amonges the rest, at the request of the Lantgraue, was preserued. 1615 G. Sandys Trav. 82 In these Monasteries many excellent manu-scripts haue bene preserued. 1694 Acc. Sev. Late Voy. Introd. 9 They preserved themselves with Geese, Ducks, vast large Muscles..etc. 1738 Gray Propertius iii. 100 And the short Marble but preserve a Name. 1839 H. T. De la Beche Rep. Geol. Cornwall, etc. viii. 235 These sands..have not preserved many of their exuviæ. 1874 Green Short Hist. ii. §3. 67 A tiny little village preserves the name of the Percy. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) IV. 238 The bodily frame is preserved by exercise and destroyed by indolence. 1904 W. M. Ramsay Lett. Seven Ch. i. 13 Few private letters older than the imperial time have been preserved. |
b. To keep up, maintain (a state of things).
| 1676–7 Marvell Corr. Wks. (Grosart) II. 529 The Bill from the Lords, for preserving a Protestant clergy..was read. 1810 Southey in Edinb. Ann. Reg. I. i. 92 Other means that would be equally effectual in preserving discipline. 1830 D'Israeli Chas. I, III. x. 223 Knox..preserved an uninterrupted correspondence with Calvin. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. vii. 56 To enable the striæ to preserve the same general direction. |
c. To keep in one's possession; to retain (a possession, acquisition, property, quality, etc.).
| 1617 Moryson Itin. iii. 176 The Turkish and Greekish women haue most delicate bodyes, and long preserue their beauties. 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. iii. 46 There are People in Dehly, vastly rich in Jewels, especially the Rajas who preserve their Pretious Stones from Father to Son. 1720 Ozell Vertot's Rom. Rep. II. xiv. 330 Cæsar contented himself with preserving the advantage he had gain'd. 1828 D'Israeli Chas. I, I. vi. 150 In politics they often yield the name while they preserve the thing. 1834 M. Somerville Connex. Phys. Sc. xxvi. (1849) 293 The seas preserve a considerable portion of the heat they receive in summer. 1886 Willis & Clark Cambridge II. 165 The whole preserves a venerable air of undisturbed antiquity. |
3. To keep from physical or chemical change. a. To prepare (fruit, meat, etc.) by boiling with sugar, salting, or pickling, so as to prevent its decomposition or fermentation. Also absol.
| 1579 [see preserved 2]. 1584 Cogan Haven Health cv. 92 The Damasin Plummes are woont to be dryed and preserued as figges. 1611 Shakes. Cymb. i. v. 13 Hast thou not learn'd me how To make Perfumes? Distill? Preserue? 1663 Boyle Usef. Exp. Nat. Philos. ii. ii. 107 A Friend of..mine..hath a strange way of preserving Fruits, whereby even Goos-berries have been kept for many Moneths, without the addition of Sugar. 1796 C. Marshall Garden. xii. (1813) 167 The morella cherry is..not wanted till late in the season to preserve. 1870 Yeats Nat. Hist. Comm. 286 This art of preserving meat is one of modern times. |
b. To keep (organic bodies) from decomposition, by chemical treatment, freezing, etc.
| 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 540 Little Apes..which they used to preserve with certaine Spices, having flayed off their skinnes,..and sell them. 1677 W. Hubbard Narrative ii. 72 The body of Captain Lake, preserven entire and whole and free from putrefaction by the coldness of the long winter. 1727–41 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Timber, The Dutch preserve their gates, portcullices, draw-bridges, sluices, etc. by coating them over with a mixture of pitch and tar [etc.]. 1893 F. C. Selous Trav. S.E. Africa 44, I shot and preserved a great many fine specimens of..antelopes. 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 929 Those engaged in dissecting bodies preserved with arsenic. Mod. Specimens of snakes and other reptiles, locusts, etc. preserved in spirits. |
c. intr. (for refl.) To remain without physical or chemical change; to remain in wholesome condition; to ‘keep’; also, to endure or ‘stand’ preserving.
| 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. iii. i. 69 b, The snow..preserveth all the whole Sommer in hys accustomed nature and coldnesse without melting. 1748 Anson's Voy. i. v. 45 The water..is excellent, and preserves at sea as well as that of the Thames. |
4. To keep (game) undisturbed for personal use in hunting, shooting, or fishing; to keep (game runs, fishing rivers, etc.) for private use. Also absol.
| 1612 Earl of Exeter in Buccleuch MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm.) I. 239 The game was well preserved by his uncle. 1807 [see preserve n. 4]. 1853 Lytton My Novel viii. v, Squire Thornhill..had taken the liberty to ask permission to shoot over Mr Leslie's land, since Mr Leslie did not preserve. 1867 Trollope Chron. Barset I. xxii. 187 A man who preserves is always respected by the poachers. 1886 Field 13 Feb. 182/2 There is no better preserved wood throughout the length and breadth of the Hertfordshire country. Ibid. 27 Feb. 269/2 Mr. A. H. Longman has foxes strictly preserved. |