2011_11_21 salvo \SAL-voh\, noun: An excuse or quibbling evasion.

salvo \SAL-voh\, noun:
1. Something to save a person's reputation or soothe a person's feelings.
2. An excuse or quibbling evasion.
3. A simultaneous or successive discharge of artillery, bombs, etc.
4. A round of fire given as a salute.
5. A round of cheers or applause.
King Edward, however, artfully inserted a salvo, saving the rights of the King of England and of all others which before the date of this treaty belong to him or any of them in the marches or elsewhere.
 -- G. A. Henty, In Freedom's Cause
Ignoring sons, he scanned the daughters with salvo upon salvo of loving glances...
 -- William T. Vollmann, The Royal Family
Salvo originates in the Latin word salvus meaning “safe.”