lifeboat

Definition

A 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).

Etymology

From life + boat.

Example Sentences

• "I've got a watch that turns into a lifeboat"
• "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."