Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To protect from loss or harm; preserve.
  • intransitive verb To use carefully or sparingly, avoiding waste.
  • intransitive verb To keep (a quantity) constant through physical or chemical reactions or evolutionary changes.
  • intransitive verb To preserve (fruits) with sugar.
  • intransitive verb To economize.
  • noun A jam made of fruits stewed in sugar.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To keep in a safe or sound state; save; preserve from loss, decay, waste, or injury; defend from violation: as, to conserve bodies from perishing; to conserve the peace of society.
  • To preserve with sugar, etc., as fruits, roots, herbs, etc.; prepare or make up as a sweetmeat.
  • noun That which is conserved; a sweetmeat; a confection; especially, in former use, a pharmaceutical confection.
  • noun . A conservatory.
  • noun Aconserver; that which conserves.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To keep in a safe or sound state; to save; to preserve; to protect.
  • transitive verb To prepare with sugar, etc., for the purpose of preservation, as fruits, etc.; to make a conserve of.
  • noun Anything which is conserved; especially, a sweetmeat prepared with sugar; a confection.
  • noun (Med.) A medicinal confection made of freshly gathered vegetable substances mixed with finely powdered refined sugar. See Confection.
  • noun obsolete A conservatory.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Wilderness where human development is prohibited.
  • noun A jam or thick syrup made from fruit.
  • noun obsolete A medicinal confection made of freshly gathered vegetable substances mixed with finely powdered refined sugar.
  • noun obsolete A conservatory.
  • verb To save for later use.
  • verb To protect an environment.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun fruit preserved by cooking with sugar
  • verb preserve with sugar
  • verb keep constant through physical or chemical reactions or evolutionary change
  • verb use cautiously and frugally
  • verb keep in safety and protect from harm, decay, loss, or destruction

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English conserven, from Old French conserver, from Latin cōnservāre : com-, intensive pref.; see com– + servāre, to preserve; see ser- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French conserver, from Latin conservare ("to keep, preserve"), from com- (intensive prefix) + servo ("keep watch, maintain"). See also observe.

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Examples

  • Since what conservatives seek to conserve is the social order and power structure (with themselves as the ruling class) by any means necessary, the dismantling of state security constraints is wholly in line with conservatism.

    Matthew Yglesias » The Ontology of Miranda Rights 2010

  • The resulting conserve is ridiculously easy to prepare (I made it this morning before heading out to work) yet looks absolutely decadent and rendered truly beautifully sweet, shiny and utterly figgy little gems.

    Sugar High Fridays #7: Fig & Molasses Conserve 2005

  • The resulting conserve is ridiculously easy to prepare (I made it this morning before heading out to work) yet looks absolutely decadent and rendered truly beautifully sweet, shiny and utterly figgy little gems.

    Sugar High Fridays #7: Fig & Molasses Conserve 2005

  • The resulting conserve is ridiculously easy to prepare (I made it this morning before heading out to work) yet looks absolutely decadent and rendered truly beautifully sweet, shiny and utterly figgy little gems.

    Sugar High Fridays 2005

  • And yes, Bush flying around while telling us to conserve is weak.

    Think Progress » Brown Blames HorsesAss.org 2005

  • The resulting conserve is ridiculously easy to prepare (I made it this morning before heading out to work) yet looks absolutely decadent and rendered truly beautifully sweet, shiny and utterly figgy little gems.

    Seattle Bon Vivant: 2005

  • Learning alters us, it does what all nourishment does that does not merely "conserve" -- as the physiologist knows.

    Beyond Good and Evil Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche 1872

  • And what he’s trying to conserve is pretty damn good.

    Matthew Yglesias » The Trouble With Standing Athwart History 2009

  • The whole point of desiring to conserve is to maintain a situation which one wants to continue, a way of life in which people work hard to care for themselves and their families but are willing to share their resources with others who are less fortunate and to contribute to the costs of the common well-being.

    Who You Callin' Liberal 2006

  • KING: One way to conserve is to make cars more efficient.

    CNN Transcript May 8, 2001 2001

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