rescue
    n 1: recovery or preservation from loss or danger; "work is the
         deliverance of mankind"; "a surgeon's job is the saving of
         lives" [syn: rescue, deliverance, delivery, saving]
    v 1: free from harm or evil [syn: rescue, deliver]
    2: take forcibly from legal custody; "rescue prisoners"

Rescue \Res"cue\ (r[e^]s"k[-u]), n. [From Rescue, v.; cf.
   Rescous.]
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   1. The act of rescuing; deliverance from restraint, violence,
      or danger; liberation.
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            Spur to the rescue of the noble Talbot. --Shak.
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   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.
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                The rescue of a prisoner from the court is
                punished with perpetual imprisonment and
                forfeiture of goods.              --Blackstone.
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   Rescue grass. [Etymol. uncertain.] (Bot.) A tall grass
      (Ceratochloa unioloides) somewhat resembling chess,
      cultivated for hay and forage in the Southern States.
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Rescue \Res"cue\ (r[e^]s"k[-u]), 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.
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         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.
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   Syn: To retake; recapture; free; deliver; liberate; release;
        save.
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RESCUE, crim. law. A forcible setting at liberty against law of a person 
duly arrested. Co. Litt. 160; 1 Chitty's Cr, Law, *62; 1 Russ. on Cr. 383. 
The person who rescues the prisoner is called the rescuer. 
     2. If the rescued prisoner were arrested for felony, then the rescuer 
is a felon; if for treason, a traitor; and if for a trespass, he is liable 
to a fine as if he had committed the original offence. Hawk. B. 5, c. 21. If 
the principal be acquitted, the rescuer may nevertheless be fined for the 
misdemeanor in the obstruction and contempt of public justice. 1 Hale, 598. 
     3. In order to render the rescuer criminal, it is necessary he should 
have knowledge that the person whom he sets at liberty has been apprehended 
for a criminal offence, if he is in the custody of a private person; but if 
he be under the care of a public officer, then he is to take notice of it at 
his peril. 1 Hale, 606. 
     4. In another sense, rescue is the taking away and setting at liberty, 
against law, a distress taken for rent, or services, or damage feasant. Bac. 
Ab. Rescue, A. 
     5. For the law of the United States on this subject, vide Ing. Dig. 
150. Vide, generally, 19 Vin. Ab. 94. 

RESCUE, mar. war. The retaking by a party captured of a prize made by the 
enemy. There is still another kind of rescue which partake's of the nature 
of a recapture; it occurs when the weaker party before he is overpowered, 
obtains relief from the arrival of fresh succors, and is thus preserved from 
the force of the enemy. 1 Rob. Rep. 224; 1 Rob. Rep. 271. 
     2. Rescue differs from recapture. (q.v.) The rescuers do not by the 
rescue become owners of the property, as if it had been a new prize -- but 
the property is restored to the original owners by the right of 
postliminium. (q.v.)