Dictionary

life buoy en · NOUN

Etymology

From life + buoy.

Meanings

1. (UK) A buoyant object (most commonly torus-shaped) that is used as a life-saving device by keeping a person afloat.
   • 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:
   • Also, a life buoy was attached to the fuselage. 2007, Daniel E. Blaney, Old Orchard Beach:
   • At least four approved ring life buoys shall be placed on each manned platform. 1981, Compilation of Regulations Related to Mineral Resource Activities:
   • 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:
2. (UK, figuratively) Something that rescues one from difficulties.
   • 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:
   • 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 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:
   • 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:

Forms

Relateds

life raft · life jacket · life vest · light buoy

Synonyms

lifesaver · life belt · safety buoy · life preserver · life ring