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Glite Dictionary
Carling float

Carling float

9.9
An emergency raft on a ship for people to use if they must leave at sea
  • noun
  • Specialized
translation icon : balsa Carling
  • The captain ordered the men to launch the Carling float immediately.

Examples

  • The crew quickly launched the Carling float during the drill.

  • The crew prepared the Carling float as a precaution during the storm.

  • In case of shipwreck, the Carling float could support several people.

  • Do you know how to deploy a Carling float?

  • In an emergency, the crew used the Carling float to evacuate everyone from the sinking ship.

  • The sailors practiced how to inflate the Carling float before they set sail.

  • During the safety drill, they demonstrated how to properly use the Carling float.

Synonyms

lifeboat
vsCarling float
72 1.5

A strong boat kept on a ship or on the shore to save people in danger at sea

is a smaller emergency platform for abandoning ship rather than a large rescue vessel
life raft
vsCarling float
7 2.9

A small inflatable boat used to escape from a sinking ship

is a specific type of emergency platform used when leaving a sinking ship

Surface Forms

Carling float singular
Carling floats plural

Morphology

Carling + float

The noun 'float' clearly signals a buoyant object, so learners can partially infer this is some kind of floating device. However 'Carling' is a technical/proper term with no transparent meaning for a B1 learner, and the specific sense 'emergency raft used to abandon ship' is a specialized, non-compositional nuance. Therefore the meaning is only partially recoverable from the parts.

Etymology

Carling float may come from a ship word carling, a short wooden beam, plus float, meaning something that floats. Because small emergency rafts used a wooden frame like a carling, people began to call them Carling floats, so it now means 'an emergency raft used if a ship must be abandoned'.