safety
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈseɪfti/
rhymes: -eɪfti
Forms: form: safeties
Etymology: Inherited from Middle English savete, from Old French sauveté, from earlier salvetet, from Medieval Latin salvitās, salvitātem, from Latin salvus.
Senses: examples: text: If you push it to the limit, safety is not guaranteed.
text: He managed to reach the border and escape to safety.
text: Oh, oh! “Go to safety”! Why didn’t I think of that⁉ Here I am in danger when, really, I could simply be going to safety! I shouldn’t have wasted your time by calling in the first place!
ref: 2016 May 15, chapter 911, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 3, episode 12, John Oliver (actor), via HBO:
antonyms: danger
glosses: The condition or feeling of being safe; security; certainty.
examples: text: Be sure that the safety is set before proceeding.
topics: engineering
mechanical-engineering
mechanics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: A safety lock or safety catch: a mechanism on a weapon or dangerous equipment designed to prevent accidental firing or operation.
examples: text: […] imprison him, […] / Deliver him to safety; and return,
ref: c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]:
glosses: Preservation from escape; close custody.
examples: text: He sacked the quarterback in the end zone for a safety.
topics: American-football
ball-games
football
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: An instance of a player being sacked or tackled in the end zone, or stepping out of the end zone and off the field, resulting in two points to the opposite team.
examples: text: The free safety made a game-saving tackle on the runner who had broken past the linebackers.
topics: American-football
ball-games
football
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: Any of the defensive players who are in position furthest from the line of scrimmage and whose responsibility is to defend against passes as well as to be the tacklers of last resort.
examples: text: Boy wondered about that bunt. He had a notion Fowler would commit himself soon because time was on the go. But Fowler didn’t, making it another sweep of three Pirates. He had thus far given up only two safeties.
ref: 1952, Bernard Malamud, The Natural, Time Life Books, published 1966, page 225:
topics: ball-games
baseball
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: A safety squeeze.
examples: text: That was a poor safety from Higgins.
text: After thirty minutes of safety, Selby finally potted a red, to ironic cheers.
topics: ball-games
games
hobbies
lifestyle
snooker
sports
glosses: A safety shot or sequence of such shots.
examples: text: Many wheelmen and wheelwomen, riding safeties, tandems and tricycles, stopped there during the evening and we had good opportunity for comparing American and English bicycles […]
ref: 1897, American Architect and Architecture, volumes 57-58, page 51:
text: There are cyclists, like Mr. F. T. Bidlake, who prefer a tricycle to a safety, and to such men a long ride on a tricycle is no more fatiguing than a safety bicycle ride of the same distance.
ref: 1921, W. F. Grew, The Cycle Industry, London, page 22:
glosses: A safety bicycle.
Derived terms: auto safety seat
biosafety
car safety seat
certified safety professional
child safety seat
cybersafety
elf and safety
elfin safety
e-safety
fire safety
free safety
health and safety
infant safety seat
insafety
margin of safety
memory safety
nanosafety
occupational health and safety
occupational safety and health
public safety announcement
Ramsbottom safety valve
range safety
range safety officer
range safety system
safety arch
safety area
safety belt
safety bicycle
safety boot
safety buoy
safety cage
safety call
safety car
safety card
safety catch
safety chain
safety coffin
safety-conscious
safety-critical
safety curtain
safety cushion
safety deposit
safety-deposit box
safety factor
safety first
safety fuse
safety glass
safety glasses
safety hammer
safety helmet
safety hoist
safety in numbers
safety island
safetyism
safety lamp
safety lock
safety match
safety measures
safety mechanism
safety net
safety of shadows
safety orange
safety paper
safety pin
safety plug
safety razor
safety reflector
safety rein
safety school
safety scissors
safety seat
safety shoe
safety shorts
safety spot
safety squat
safety squeeze
safety stock
safety stop
safety thongs
safety tube
safety-valve
safety valve
safety yellow
social safety net
strong safety
supersafety
there is safety in numbers
transportation safety board
transport safety board
trust and safety
type safety
unsafety
virtual safety car
Related terms: safe
security
secure