figurative or in figurative context, chiefly with reference to the plank to which a shipwrecked person clings in order to avoid drowning.

An appliance in which a person or thing is swung or carried. The apparatus in which a person is drawn from a wreck to a place of safety.

In various technical contexts. A wooden cylinder attached to a line to allow it to be fired from a gun during sea rescues. Obsolete.

Nautical. A spherical pronged device attached to a line and fired towards or from a sinking ship, used to convey the crew or passengers to a place…

a life-saving apparatus consisting of a life-buoy with suspended canvass support resembling breeches through which the legs are put.

A cannon, invented in 1877, designed to project a rope from the shore to a stranded ship to facilitate salvaging and rescue operations.

a gun used for sending a communication line or lifesaving apparatus to a vessel in distress.

Used attributively and absol. as proprietary names of apparatus comprising a line-carrying rocket fired from a pistol, used in life-saving at sea.