lifeblood

& a. A. As substantive: I. Lit .: The blood, which is nece ary to life; vital blood. "While the same plumage that had warm'd his nest, Drank the last life - blood of his bleeding breast." Byron: English Bards and Scotch Reviewers. II. Figuratively : 1. That which is e ential to existence, succe , or strength. "Money, the life - blood of the nation, Corrupts and stagnates in the veins." Swift : Run upon the Bankers , 1720. 2. An involuntary quiver of the eyelid, popularly supposed to be caused by the life-blood. e ential. B. As adj.: As nece ary as blood to existence; "Trample under foot all the most sacred and life - blood laws." Milton: Reform, in England, bk. iii. life-boat, s. Naut.: A boat specially constructed for saving life in storms and heavy seas, when ordinary boats could not attempt to do so, except at imminent peril or certain death to those within them. The qualities nece ary in a life-boat may be thus summed up: Extra buoyancy, self-discharge of water, ballasting, self-righting, stability, speed, stowage room, and strength of build. Life - boat service : The life-boat service of the United States, which now has nearly 250 stations on ocean, lake and river within the limits of the United States, and which during a single year has saved nearly 4,000 lives and $7,000,000 worth of property, is the outgrowth of the efforts of the Ma achusetts Humane Society, which fifty years ago established huts of refuge and volunteer lifeboat service on the Ma achusetts coast. Theoret ically, the institution may be said to have been formed by the Puritan Miles Standish, the captain of Plymouth, who, in 1634, built a hut of refuge for stranded sailors on Duxbury, (Ma .) beach, but practically the efforts of the Ma achusetts Humane Society early in the present century were the foundation of the present splendid system of life saving. These efforts were at first wholly supported by voluntary subscription, but received aid of Congre in 1847, and each year since ever-increas ing appropriations have been made, until to-day there are maintained the number of stations given above.