safety

1. (mechanics) A safety lock or safety catch: a mechanism on a weapon or dangerous equipment designed to prevent accidental firing or operation.Examples: "Be sure that the safety is set before proceeding."countableuncountable

2. (sports)Examples: "He sacked the quarterback in the end zone for a safety."countableuncountable

3. (sports)Examples: "The free safety made a game-saving tackle on the runner who had broken past the linebackers."countableuncountable

4. (sports)Examples: "Boy wondered about that bunt. He had a notion Fowler would commit himself soon because time was on the go. But Fowler didn’t, making it another sweep of three Pirates. He had thus far given up only two safeties."countableuncountable

5. (sports)Examples: "That was a poor safety from Higgins."; "After thirty minutes of safety, Selby finally potted a red, to ironic cheers."countableuncountable

6. (dated) A safety bicycle.Examples: "Many wheelmen and wheelwomen, riding safeties, tandems and tricycles, stopped there during the evening and we had good opportunity for comparing American and English bicycles […]"; "There are cyclists, like Mr. F. T. Bidlake, who prefer a tricycle to a safety, and to such men a long ride on a tricycle is no more fatiguing than a safety bicycle ride of the same distance."countabledateduncountable