breeches buoy EXAMPLES|WORD ORIGIN noun Nautical. a rescue device consisting of a life buoy from which is suspended a canvas sling, similar in form to a pair of breeches, in which shipwrecked or disabled persons are hauled from a vessel to the shore or to another vessel by means of a rope and pulley between them. Liberaldictionary.com
Origin of breeches buoy First recorded in 1875–80 Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019 Examples from the Web for breeches buoy Historical Examples of breeches buoy
Then the Miami dropped her anchor, to hold her place for the breeches-buoy.
The Boy With the U. S. Life-Savers
Francis Rolt-Wheeler
I’d love to see you in a breeches-buoy, Perry, and I couldn’t if it was dark.
Ralph Henry Barbour
“I’ve always wanted to be taken off a sinking ship in a breeches-buoy,” he said.
Ralph Henry Barbour
When there are a great many people to be saved, this car is used in place of the breeches-buoy.
Russell Doubleday
The breeches-buoy, therefore, could only be made fast to the stump of the mast a few feet above the deck.
The Boy With the U. S. Life-Savers
Francis Rolt-Wheeler
British Dictionary definitions for breeches buoy breeches buoy noun a ring-shaped life buoy with a support in the form of a pair of short breeches, in which a person is suspended for safe transfer from a ship Collins English Dictionary – Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012