From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishlife raftˈlife raft noun [countable] TTWa small rubber boat that can be filled with air and used by passengers on a sinking ship
Examples from the Corpus
life raft• He greeted Collingridge's downfall like a drowning man discovers a life raft.• Men who hold tenaciously to a life raft may expect to he cast upon strange shores among strange companions.• She is the person most centered on the child since the moment he held on to her like another life raft.• For McKenzie, the tide had turned again and he watched helplessly as his life raft drifted back over the horizon.• As soon as his life raft boomed into the sea, Delaney pulled the quick release tag and dropped from his harness.• Finally one end of the hawser was fastened to the bank, and the makeshift life raft was dispatched.• In the middle of the store, dangling by nylon wires from the ceiling, was an orange rubber life raft.• The cabin is gouged open, spilling out wooden crates, twisted pieces of metal, a blown-up life raft. 