BUOY

buoy

(noun) bright-colored; a float attached by rope to the seabed to mark channels in a harbor or underwater hazards

buoy

(verb) mark with a buoy

buoy, buoy up

(verb) keep afloat; “The life vest buoyed him up”

buoy

(verb) float on the surface of water

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Noun

buoy (plural buoys)

(nautical) A float moored in water to mark a location, warn of danger, or indicate a navigational channel.

A life-buoy; a life preserver.

Verb

buoy (third-person singular simple present buoys, present participle buoying, simple past and past participle buoyed)

(transitive) To keep afloat or aloft; used with up.

(transitive) To support or maintain at a high level.

(transitive) To mark with a buoy.

To maintain or enhance enthusiasm or confidence; to lift the spirits of.

Anagrams

• buyo

Source: Wiktionary

Buoy, n. Etym: [D. boei buoy, fetter, fr. OF. boie, buie, chain, fetter, F. bouée a buoy, from L. boia. "Boiae genus vinculorum tam ferreae quam ligneae." Festus. So called because chained to its place.] (Naut.)

Definition: A float; esp. a floating object moored to the bottom, to mark a channel or to point out the position of something beneath the water, as an anchor, shoal, rock, etc. Anchor buoy, a buoy attached to, or marking the position of, an anchor.

– Bell buoy, a large buoy on which a bell is mounted, to be rung by the motion of the waves.

– Breeches buoy. See under Breeches.

– Cable buoy, an empty cask employed to buoy up the cable in rocky anchorage.

– Can buoy, a hollow buoy made of sheet or boiler iron, usually conical or pear-shaped.

– Life buoy, a float intended to support persons who have fallen into the water, until a boat can be dispatched to save them.

– Nut or Nun buoy, a buoy large in the middle, and tapering nearly to a point at each end.

– To stream the buoy, to let the anchor buoy fall by the ship's side into the water, before letting go the anchor.

– Whistling buoy, a buoy fitted with a whistle that is blown by the action of the waves.

Buoy, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Buoyed; p. pr. & vb. n. Buoying.]

1. To keep from sinking in a fluid, as in water or air; to keep afloat; -- with up.

2. To support or sustain; to preserve from sinking into ruin or despondency. Those old prejudices, which buoy up the ponderous mass of his nobility, wealth, and title. Burke.

3. To fix buoys to; to mark by a buoy or by buoys; as, to buoy an anchor; to buoy or buoy off a channel. Not one rock near the surface was discovered which was not buoyed by this floating weed. Darwin.

Buoy, v. i.

Definition: To float; to rise like a buoy. "Rising merit will buoy up at last." Pope.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition