life raft
12
2.9
- noun
- /laɪf ræft/
- After the ship sank, we climbed aboard the life raft and waited for rescue.
- life raft inflates
- rescued from life rafts
- inflatable life raft
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Watch on YouTubeWhat is your allocation to building a a life raft to get humans out of here?
- What is your allocation to building a a life raft to get humans out of here?
- And they are, you know, they are unable to deploy the life raft.
- I prepared for it and I did some sea, sea drills and things to like get into the life raft and, and I prepared the best that I could.
Examples
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Finally, he got the life raft into the water—but then watched in horror as the waves quickly carried it away.
Academic text (2011) -
The crew instructed passengers to don their life jackets before boarding the life raft.
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I need to blow the life raft, sir.
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Get that life raft into the water.
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Crew surfaced days later in a life raft.
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Earlier Monday, two Coast Guard helicopters rescued 14 people from life rafts after they were forced to abandon ship.
Blog text (12) -
As a member of the Ranger's emergency crew, it was Holmes's job to launch one of the ship's three life rafts.
Academic text (2011) -
Their only chance for survival is the five-person life raft stowed on their vessel.
Blog text (12) -
The man rises unsteadily, shading his eyes, balancing his weight in the gently rocking life raft.
Fiction book (1992) -
Coast Guard rescue swimmer Randy Haba helped pluck several crew members off a 25-foot rubber life raft.
Blog text (12)
Synonyms
50
1.5
A strong boat kept on a ship or on the shore to save people in danger at sea
An emergency raft on a ship for people to use if they must leave at sea
How Big
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly derivable from combining 'life' (preservation of life) with 'raft' (a rescue craft): a life raft is literally a raft used to save lives. The figurative extension to any form of support or relief in danger is a predictable metaphorical extension and is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would understand it.
Etymology
Life raft is a small floating boat used to save people when a ship is in danger. The name is literal: life means saving people and raft means a simple floating platform, so the image of a tiny boat keeping people alive explains why it means 'an emergency boat'.