D defs.my
Menu ☰
Entry 5 senses · 3 variants Webster, 1913

Buoy

/(bwoi [or] boi; 277)/ · IPA /ˈbɔɪ/
01 n. 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 …
  1. 1.
    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.(Naut.)
Phrases & compounds
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 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.
02 v. t. To keep from sinking in a fluid, as in water or air; to keep afloat; -- with up.
imp. & p. p. Buoyed; p. pr. & vb. n. Buoying
  1. 1.
    To keep from sinking in a fluid, as in water or air; to keep afloat; -- with up.
  2. 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. 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.
03 v. i. To float; to rise like a buoy.
  1. 1.
    To float; to rise like a buoy.