life-raft

Definitions

from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

n. Nautical, a raft-like construction designed to save life in case of shipwreck.

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

Examples

Deploying once again the tired and false charge of “moral equivalence” — a term that has done quite a bit of work over the years as a life-raft for sinking conservative foreign policy arguments — Krauthammer writes:

For who can resist the gallantry of David Hart Dyke staying aboard the tilting hull of HMS Coventry, or Noel Coward and what remains of his crew clinging to their life-raft in In Which We Serve, and Coward commanding, as his destroyer finally goes down: "Three cheers for the ship!"

Linette was a life-raft for me, because she understood me, but I had the feeling that she was somewhat understood by many — or at least, she moved more freely than I through the school, less concerned over how well others read her.

Like those hacks, described in Jerry Della Femina's book, who make a career from one good contact, Rumsen gets back on board the good ship SCDP clutching a life-raft in the shape of of an account with Pond's.