life buoy

plural life buoys · alternative life-buoy · alternative lifebuoy

1. UKA buoyant object (most commonly torus-shaped) that is used as a life-saving device by keeping a person afloat.

   Also, a life buoy was attached to the fuselage.

   2007, Daniel E. Blaney, Old Orchard Beach

   3 more examples

   A spherical life buoy having an air chamber formed therein, an entrance opening communicating with the interior of said life buoy, air inlet and exhaust pipes extending exteriorly therof, a perforated housing for each of said pipes, a dome secured to teh periphery of said life buoy and covering said housings, said dome being perforated, and means for supporting said life buoy upon the deck of a vessel.

   1910, Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office

   At least four approved ring life buoys shall be placed on each manned platform.

   1981, Compilation of Regulations Related to Mineral Resource Activities

   He had on a life buoy and a life preserver. He clung there a moment and then he slid off again.

   2012, Jay Henry Mowbray, Sinking of the Titanic: Eyewitness Accounts

   Synonyms: life preserver, life ring, lifesaver, safety buoy, life belt

2. UKfigurativelySomething that rescues one from difficulties.

   Above all, the Marshall Plan was a life buoy for the then sinking French economy.

   2006, Peter van Kemseke, Towards an Era of Development, page 43

   3 more examples

   Fearing that he might become permanently sewn into the Air France uniform he put on every morning, Manuel regarded Mario's faith in him as a life buoy.

   2001, Suzanne Jill Levine, Manuel Puig and the Spider Woman: His Life and Fictions, page 166

   I but pity him, who, losing me, found the bright stars dimmed, And frantically seized you as a life buoy.

   2008, Fleur Yano, Collected Writings of Flora Belle Jan, page 89

   I was so exhausted and weak that several times, I nearly collapsed in the store. My shopping cart became my life buoy as I hung on to it and stubbornly kept going.

   2012, Holly Reese, Rising from the Abyss, page 116