save-all

[ seyv-awl ]

/ ˈseɪvˌɔl /

a means, contrivance, or receptacle for preventing loss or waste.

Older Use. overalls(def 3).

Nautical.

a net secured between a pier and a ship, beneath cargo being transferred from one to the other.
a sail for utilizing wind spilled from the regular sails of a vessel: used in very light winds.

Origin of save-all

First recorded in 1635–45; noun use of verb phrase save all

Another curious illuminating appurtenance was called a save-all or candle-wedge.

Customs and Fashions in Old New England |Alice Morse Earle
Under every lamp stands a sort of “save-all,” consisting of a small skin basket for catching the oil that falls over.

Journal of the Third Voyage for the Discovery of a North-West Passage |William Edward Parry
The business of the dairy, like the feeding of hogs and poultry, is originally carried on as a save-all.

An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations |Adam Smith
For this reason the trough into which it falls from the revolving "wire" is called the "save-all."

A Book of Exposition |Homer Heath Nugent

A save-all, or small sail, set occasionally under the lower studding-sail or driver-boom, in a fair wind and smooth sea.

The Sailor's Word-Book |William Henry Smyth

save-all

a device to prevent waste or loss

nautical

dialect overalls or a pinafore

British a dialect word for miser 1