safeguard

See also: safe-guard

English

Etymology

From Middle English savegard, from Middle French sauvegarde, from Old French salve garde, sauve garde, reconstructed as safe +‎ guard.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

safeguard (plural safeguards)

1. Something that serves as a guard or protection; a defense.

   Getting a flu shot is a good safeguard against illness.

2. One who, or that which, defends or protects; defence; protection.
   • Granville

     Thy sword, the safeguard of thy brother's throne.

3. A safe-conduct or passport, especially in time of war.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)

4. (obsolete) The monitor lizard.
   • 1844, The Animal Kingdom

     The same idea is entertained of the Safeguard in America, as of the Monitor in Africa, and other parts of the Old World, […]

Translations

something that serves as a guard or protection; a defense

• Danish: beskyttelse (da) c, værn n
• Finnish: suoja (fi)
• Georgian: დაცვა (dacva), დამცველი (damcveli)
• German: Sicherung (de) f, Schutz (de) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Norwegian: sikring (no) m or f
• Portuguese: salvaguarda (pt) f
• Russian: гара́нтия (ru) f (garántija)
• Slovak: poistka, ochrana
• Spanish: salvaguardia (es) f

a safe-conduct, especially in time of war

• Finnish: kulkulupa (fi)
• Serbo-Croatian: obezbjeđenje n
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Spanish: salvaguardia (es) f

Verb

safeguard (third-person singular simple present safeguards, present participle safeguarding, simple past and past participle safeguarded)

1. To protect, to keep safe.

   She kept a savings to safeguard against debt and emergencies.

2. To escort safely.

Translations

to protect, to keep safe

• Danish: beskytte (da), sikre
• Finnish: turvata (fi), suojata (fi)
• French: protéger (fr)
• Georgian: დაცვა (dacva)
• Ido: salvogardar
• Latin: munio (la), praemunio
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Maori: whakahaumaru
• Portuguese: salvaguardar (pt)
• Quechua: hat'alliy
• Romanian: salvgarda (ro)
• Slovak: zabezpečiť, zabezpečovať
• Spanish: salvaguardar (es), resguardar (es)

to escort safely

• Finnish: suojata (fi), turvata (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

Anagrams

• saufgarde