To make sure of; to kill; to capture.
1833. On he [the buck] came at an easy lope, until he reached the top of a little knoll about sixty yards from me. Then he halted, wheeled round, and stood perfectly still…. I fired, and down he fell. In a moment he rose and dashed off; but I knew I had saved him, dropped the but of my rifle, and began to load.—James Hall, ‘The Harpe’s Head,’ p. 38 (Phila.). (Italics in the original.)
1833. “Well, you’ve beaten your enemy [a rattlesnake].” “Yes, I reckon I’ve saved him.”—Id., p. 151.
1833. [The boy watched the struggles of his victim, a large bear,] until the latter sank exhausted in the mire—when he screamed after his brother, “Bill, come back, I’ve saved him.”—The same, ‘Legends of the West,’ p. 212. (Italics in the original.)
1839. He has frequently preached at a place, and before he commenced pointed out some fine horse for his friend to steal; and while he was preaching and praying for them, his friend would save the horse for him.—‘History of Virgil A. Stewart,’ p. 30 (N.Y.).
1853. I do not think we saved a single Mexican, but those whom we got at the first discharge.—S. A. Hammett (‘Philip Paxton’), ‘A Stray Yankee in Texas,’ p. 149.
