breeches buoy

1. 1.

   a life buoy in the form of a ring with short breeches for support; used to transfer people from a ship

   Broaderlife buoy

Questions about breeches buoy

What does breeches buoy mean?

breeches buoy means "a life buoy in the form of a ring with short breeches for support; used to transfer people from a ship".

Is breeches buoy a common word?

breeches buoy is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.