Definition of: salvage

(sal′v j) v.t. ·vaged, ·vag·ing
To save, as a ship or its cargo, from wreck, capture, etc.; salve.
—noun
1. The saving of a ship, cargo, etc., from loss; hence, any act of saving property.
2. The compensation allowed to persons by whose voluntary exertions a vessel, her cargo, or the lives of those belonging to her are saved from danger or loss: termed legally civil salvage, as distinguished from military salvage, which consists in the liberation of property from the enemy in time of war.
3. That which is saved from a wrecked or abandoned vessel or from or after a fire; hence, anything saved from destruction. [<OF <salver SAVE]
—sal′vag·er noun