lifeboat

[ lahyf-boht ]

/ ˈlaɪfˌboʊt /

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noun

a double-ended ship's boat, constructed, mounted, and provisioned so as to be readily able to rescue and maintain persons from a sinking vessel.

a similarly constructed boat used by shore-based rescue services.

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Origin of lifeboat

First recorded in 1795–1805; life + boat

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use lifeboat in a sentence

His life as a man is built around health insurance and tax services.
Houellebecq’s Incendiary Novel Imagines France With a Muslim President|Pierre Assouline|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
It was also an attack on our freedom of expression and way of life.
Politicians Only Love Journalists When They're Dead|Luke O’Neil|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
I always wanted my life to be that way, and it became that way.
Coffee Talk with Fred Armisen: On ‘Portlandia,’ Meeting Obama, and Taylor Swift’s Greatness|Marlow Stern|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
I liked it because it was like my life coming back together.
Coffee Talk with Fred Armisen: On ‘Portlandia,’ Meeting Obama, and Taylor Swift’s Greatness|Marlow Stern|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST

When the father arrived at the hospital, he was told that Andrew Dossi was in surgery, but the wounds were not life-threatening.
Shot Down During the NYPD Slowdown|Michael Daly|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Now, it immediately occurred to Davy that he had never in his whole life had all the plums he wanted at any one time.
Davy and The Goblin|Charles E. Carryl
Dean Swift was indeed a misanthrope by theory, however he may have made exception to private life.
Gulliver's Travels|Jonathan Swift
We shall recover again some or all of the steadfastness and dignity of the old religious life.
The Salvaging Of Civilisation|H. G. (Herbert George) Wells
It is the dramatic impulse of childhood endeavouring to bring life into the dulness of the serious hours.
Children's Ways|James Sully
Woman is mistress of the art of completely embittering the life of the person on whom she depends.
Pearls of Thought|Maturin M. Ballou

British Dictionary definitions for lifeboat

lifeboat

/ (ˈlaɪfˌbəʊt) /

noun

a boat, propelled by oars or a motor, used for rescuing people at sea, escaping from a sinking ship, etc

informal a fund set up by the dealers in a market to rescue any member who may become insolvent as a result of a collapse in market prices

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

lifeboat

Origin of lifeboat

Words related to lifeboat

How to use lifeboat in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for lifeboat