Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Rescue

Rescue (res"ku) , transitive verb

[Old English rescopuen, Old French rescourre, rescurre, rescorre; Latin pref. re- re- + excutere to shake or drive out; ex out + quatere to shake. See Qtash to crush, Rercussion.]

To free or deliver from any confinement, violence, danger, or evil; to liberate from actual restraint; to remove or withdraw from a state of exposure to evil; as, to rescue a prisoner from the enemy; to rescue seamen from destruction.
Had I been seized by a hungry lion, I would have been a breakfast to the best, Rather than have false Proteus rescue me. — Shakespeare

Rescue (res"ku) , noun

[From Rescue, v.; compare Rescous.]

1.
The act of rescuing; deliverance from restraint, violence, or danger; liberation.
Spur to the rescue of the noble Talbot. — Shakespeare
2.
(a) (Law) The forcible retaking, or taking away, against law, of things lawfully distrained.
(b)
(Law) The forcible liberation of a person from an arrest or imprisonment.
(c)
(Law) The retaking by a party captured of a prize made by the enemy. — Bouvier
The rescue of a prisoner from the court is punished with perpetual imprisonment and forfeiture of goods. — Blackstone
Collocations (1)
Rescue grass (Botany) , A tall grass (Ceratochloa unioloides) somewhat resembling chess, cultivated for hay and forage in the Southern States.