Rescue \Res"cue\ (r?s"k?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Rescued (-k?d);p. pr. & vb. n. Rescuing.]

[OE. rescopuen, OF. rescourre, rescurre, rescorre; L. 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. --Shak.

Syn: To retake; recapture; free; deliver; liberate; release; save.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Rescue \Res"cue\ (r?s"k?), n. [From Rescue, v.; cf. Rescous.]

1. The act of rescuing; deliverance from restraint, violence, or danger; liberation.

Spur to the rescue of the noble Talbot. --Shak.

2. (Law)
   (a) The forcible retaking, or taking away, against law, of things lawfully distrained.
   (b) The forcible liberation of a person from an arrest or imprisonment.
   (c) 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.

Rescue grass. [Etymol. uncertain.]

(Bot.) A tall grass (Ceratochloa unioloides) somewhat resembling chess, cultivated for hay and forage in the Southern States.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)