Buoy word meaning and definition

[noun] bright-colored; a float attached by rope to the seabed to mark channels in a harbor or underwater hazards
[verb] mark with a buoy
[verb] keep afloat; "The life vest buoyed him up"
[verb] float on the surface of water

\Buoy\, n. [D. boei buoy, fetter, fr. OF. boie, buie, chain, fetter, F. bou['e]e a buoy, from L. boia. ``Boiae genus vinculorum tam ferreae quam ligneae.'' --Festus. So called because chained to its place.] (Naut.) 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. To float; to rise like a buoy. ``Rising merit will buoy up at last.'' --Pope.

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