The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Save \Save\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Saved; p. pr. & vb. n.
   Saving.] [OE. saven, sauven, salven, OF. salver, sauver, F.
   sauver, L. salvare, fr. salvus saved, safe. See Safe, a.]
   1. To make safe; to procure the safety of; to preserve from
      injury, destruction, or evil of any kind; to rescue from
      impending danger; as, to save a house from the flames.
      [1913 Webster]

            God save all this fair company.       --Chaucer.
      [1913 Webster]

            He cried, saying, Lord, save me.      --Matt. xiv.
                                                  30.
      [1913 Webster]

            Thou hast . . . quitted all to save
            A world from utter loss.              --Milton.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. (Theol.) Specifically, to deliver from sin and its
      penalty; to rescue from a state of condemnation and
      spiritual death, and bring into a state of spiritual life.
      [1913 Webster]

            Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
                                                  --1 Tim. i.
                                                  15.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. To keep from being spent or lost; to secure from waste or
      expenditure; to lay up; to reserve.
      [1913 Webster]

            Now save a nation, and now save a groat. --Pope.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. To rescue from something undesirable or hurtful; to
      prevent from doing something; to spare.
      [1913 Webster]

            I'll save you
            That labor, sir. All's now done.      --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   5. To hinder from doing, suffering, or happening; to obviate
      the necessity of; to prevent; to spare.
      [1913 Webster]

            Will you not speak to save a lady's blush? --Dryden.
      [1913 Webster]

   6. To hold possession or use of; to escape loss of.
      [1913 Webster]

            Just saving the tide, and putting in a stock of
            merit.                                --Swift.
      [1913 Webster]

   To save appearances, to preserve a decent outside; to avoid
      exposure of a discreditable state of things.
      [1913 Webster]

   Syn: To preserve; rescue; deliver; protect; spare; reserve;
        prevent.
        [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Saving \Sav"ing\ (s[=a]v"[i^]ng), prep. or conj.; but properly a
   participle.
   With the exception of; except; excepting; also, without
   disrespect to. "Saving your reverence." --Shak. "Saving your
   presence." --Burns.
   [1913 Webster]

         None of us put off our clothes, saving that every one
         put them off for washing.                --Neh. iv. 23.
   [1913 Webster]

         And in the stone a new name written, which no man
         knoweth saving he that receiveth it.     --Rev. ii. 17.
   [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Saving \Sav"ing\, a.
   1. Preserving; rescuing.
      [1913 Webster]

            He is the saving strength of his anointed. --Ps.
                                                  xxviii. 8.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Avoiding unnecessary expense or waste; frugal; not lavish
      or wasteful; economical; as, a saving cook.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. Bringing back in returns or in receipts the sum expended;
      incurring no loss, though not gainful; as, a saving
      bargain; the ship has made a saving voyage.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. Making reservation or exception; as, a saving clause.
      [1913 Webster]

   Note: Saving is often used with a noun to form a compound
         adjective; as, labor-saving, life-saving, etc.
         [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Saving \Sav"ing\, n.
   1. Something kept from being expended or lost; that which is
      saved or laid up; as, the savings of years of economy.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Exception; reservation.
      [1913 Webster]

            Contend not with those that are too strong for us,
            but still with a saving to honesty.   --L'Estrange.
      [1913 Webster]

   Savings bank, a bank in which savings or earnings are
      deposited and put at interest.
      [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

saving
    adj 1: bringing about salvation or redemption from sin; "saving
           faith"; "redemptive (or redeeming) love" [syn:
           redemptive, redeeming(a), saving(a)]
    2: characterized by thriftiness; "wealthy by inheritance but
       saving by constitution"- Ellen Glasgow
    n 1: an act of economizing; reduction in cost; "it was a small
         economy to walk to work every day"; "there was a saving of
         50 cents" [syn: economy, saving]
    2: 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]
    3: the activity of protecting something from loss or danger
       [syn: preservation, saving]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

126 Moby Thesaurus words for "saving":
   Scotch, aside from, bar, barring, beside, besides, but, cache,
   canny, careful, chary, cheeseparing, compensating, compensatory,
   conservancy, conservation, conservational, conservationism,
   conservationist, conservative, conservatory, conserving, cooling,
   cooling down, cooling off, curtailment, cutback, deliverance,
   delivery, economic, economical, economization, economizing,
   economy, environmental conservation, ex, except, except for,
   excepting, excluding, exclusive of, excusing the liberty,
   extenuating, extenuatory, extrication, forehanded,
   forest conservation, forest management, freeing, frugal, frugality,
   hoard, in deference to, keeping, labor-saving, leaving out,
   let alone, liberation, lifesaving, low growth rate, maintenance,
   money-saving, nest egg, omitting, outside of, parsimonious,
   penny-wise, precluding, preserval, preservation, preservative,
   preservatory, preserving, protection, protective, providence,
   provident, prudence, prudent, prudential, qualifying, ransom,
   recovery, redeeming, redemption, redemptional, redemptive,
   reduction of expenses, reduction of spending, release, rescue,
   reserve, resources, retrenchment, retrieval, safekeeping, salvage,
   salvation, save, save and except, saving your reverence, savings,
   scraping, scrimping, skimping, slowdown, soil conservation, spare,
   sparing, sparingness, stream conservation, support, than, thrift,
   thrifty, time-saving, unless, unwasteful, upkeep, wary,
   water conservation, wetlands conservation, wildlife conservation,
   with all respect, with due respect, without