life preserver

Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Medical, Wikipedia.

life preserver,

a personal flotation device (PFD) intended to keep the wearer afloat, particularly in case of shipwreck. A Type I PFD will keep even unconscious people afloat in a face–up position; it is the most common type used at sea. Another common type, developed during World War II for fliers and called the Mae West (named for the actress because of its shape), is made of inflatable rubber; it is still carried on commercial aircraft. Other types of life preservers are meant to be used only as a stopgap by a conscious wearer; these take the form of rings, cushions, or vests, and are either inflatable or filled with buoyant material such as unicellular foam, fibrous glass, or kapok. The large balsa wood life rafts once carried by all ships have been replaced by canisters containing inflatable life rafts capable of holding from four to twenty-four people. Most countries require that ships, and airplanes crossing the water, must carry life preservers and that crew and passengers must be drilled in their use.

life preserver

[′līf pri‚zər·vər]

(engineering)

A buoyant device that is used to prevent drowning by supporting a person in the water.

life preserver

US and Canadian a life belt or life jacket

Mentioned in ?

kapok

References in periodicals archive ?

Carefully folding the life preserver after flight and putting it into a dedicated package such as a one-gallon zipper lock bag helped protect it against damage.

Personal flotation devices: wide market choice

When thinking about the life preserver example above, does that make any sense to you?

Navigating the complexities of valuing a business: choosing the wrong approach could dramatically impact your company

Referring to Diagram l-A and aligning corners, position pink waves print A on pink life preserver print 6 1/2" square.

Whale watch: quick gift friendly whales frolic in an ocean of pink

Bottom line: no matter what the water sport may be, wear a life preserver.

It floats you may not

As life preservers go, it's not very impressive - just big enough to keep a sinking county's nose above water.

Counties get a lifeline

Every day he oversaw the packing of 40-to-50 life preservers and life rafts, and he was CDQAR for many of them.

When working hard goes wrong

Auctioneers are expecting a "huge amount" of interest for what they say is the "most important life preserver in any private or public collection".

Titanic lifejacket worth a few bob; Survivor's float set to raise pounds 80k

Stand-ins for traditional hall passes include a life preserver, rubber snakes and alligators, a shoe, a wooden apple, a magic wand, and even a doll named Igor.

Get creative with hall passes

As someone who has been jailed for contempt of court for refusing to cough up sources, albeit for only five days, I must agree with Bob Zelnick's take in your story ("Waivering," February/March), "a request for a waiver [is] 'a functional betrayal of the source and the relationship, and I am disheartened to see how many of my colleagues have rushed to this little life preserver at the expense of their sources.

Say "no" to waivers

One clue to her mode of departure might be the nearby boat emblazoned with a cheerful floral motif more often applied to pricey handbags and fitted with a life preserver bearing the iconic LV monogram.

Libby Black: Heather Marx Gallery

Only one other person is known to have survived a plunge over the Canadian falls without a barrel or other contraption: a seven-year-old boy wearing a life preserver who had been thrown into the water in a 1960 boating accident.

Mystery man survives Niagara fall

According to Steven Murphy, Softek's president and CEO, "Softek is throwing an application availability life preserver to businesses that were 'voted off' the BMC Software storage management island.