Word.ws English Dictionary

lifebuoy

lifebuoy is the alternative spelling of life buoy.

Meaning of life buoy

Noun

life buoy (plural life buoys)

  1. (UK) A buoyant object (most commonly torus-shaped) that is used as a life-saving device by keeping a person afloat.
    • A spherical life buoy having an air chamber formed therein, an entrance opening communicating with the interior of said life buoy, air inlet and exhaust pipes extending exteriorly therof, a perforated housing for each of said pipes, a dome secured to teh periphery of said life buoy and covering...1910, Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office
  2. (UK, figuratively) Something that rescues one from difficulties.
    • Fearing that he might become permanently sewn into the Air France uniform he put on every morning, Manuel regarded Mario's faith in him as a life buoy.2001, Suzanne Jill Levine, Manuel Puig and the Spider Woman: His Life and Fictions, page 166

Forms of lifebuoy

plurallifebuoys

Questions about lifebuoy

What is lifebuoy the alternative spelling of?
Lifebuoy is the alternative spelling of life buoy.

Words near lifebuoy in the dictionary

  1. lifeboatman
  2. lifeboatmen
  3. lifeboats
  4. lifeboatsman
  5. lifeboatsmen
  6. lifebuoy
  7. lifebuoys
  8. lifecar
  9. lifecare
  10. lifecars
  11. lifecast

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: lifebuoy (page history and authors); life buoy (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-lifebuoy.wav.

Cite this entry: “lifebuoy.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/lifebuoy. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.