life buoy
1
3.2
- noun
- /laɪf bɔɪ/
- UK
:
boya salvavidas
- The lifeguard threw a life buoy to the struggling swimmer to help him reach safety.
Examples
-
The life buoy!
-
The life buoy!
-
- Throw the life buoy!
-
His system is the life buoy thrown from the Coast Guard ship to the people on the sinking vessel who don't know how to get out of their situation.
Blog text (4) -
She gets off the rail and, as Mr. Southard scrambles to get the line with the life buoy attached, she pulls her shirt over her head and tosses it on the deck.
Fiction book (1994) -
During the emergency drill, they practiced using a life buoy to rescue someone from the water.
-
The sailor ensured that a life buoy was attached to the side of the boat before setting sail.
Synonyms
12
4.1
A floating jacket that keeps a person above water
10
2.5
A ring or jacket that helps a person float in water
5
3.3
Something that helps a person float in water and avoid drowning
3
3.1
A ring that floats and you throw to someone who is drowning
1
2.7
A round object you throw to someone in water to help them float
1
1.9
A round floating ring worn around the body to keep a person afloat in water
How Buoyant
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'life' modifies 'buoy' to indicate a buoy intended to preserve/save life, so a learner who knows 'life' and 'buoy' can infer it is a flotation/rescue device. This noun–noun compounding pattern is common and has clear cross-linguistic parallels, making the expression immediately understandable to B1 learners.
Etymology
Life buoy comes from a clear, simple image: a round, floating ring you can throw to someone in the water to keep them alive. The word life points to saving a person and buoy is a floating object, so together the phrase means 'a ring that keeps someone afloat'.