lifeboat

plural lifeboats

1. nauticalA boat especially designed for saving the lives of shipwrecked people or people in distress at sea (either launched from the shore with a crew, or else carried on board a larger ship).

   I've got a watch that turns into a lifeboat

   1971, Alice Cooper, Glen Buxton, Michael Bruce, Dennis Dunaway, Neal Smith, “Halo of Flies”, in Killer, performed by Alice Cooper

   1 more example

   In a corner of the churchyard, where old headstones mark the graves of many mariners, is a striking white statue of a lifeboatman, erected as a memorial to three members of the local lifeboat crew who lost their lives in 1916 while trying to reach a ship in distress.

   1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 322, about Port Eynon

2. literatureAn emergency vehicle carried aboard a spaceship.

present singular third person lifeboats · participle present lifeboating · participle past lifeboated · past lifeboated

1. To rescue; to carry to safety