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Webster 1913 Edition


Buoy

Buoy

(bwoi or boi; 277)
,
Noun.
[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.)
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 buoy
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

,
Verb.
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

,
Verb.
I.
To float; to rise like a buoy.
“Rising merit will buoy up at last.”
Pope.

Webster 1828 Edition


Buoy

BUOY

,
Noun.
A close empty cask, or a block of wood or cork, fastened by a rope to an anchor,and floating on the water, to show where the anchor is situated. Buoys are of various kinds, as can-buoys, in the form of a cone; nun-buoys, which are large in the middle, and tapering nearly to a point at each end; cable-buoys, empty casks,employed to buoy up the cable, in rocky anchorage. Buoys are used also as marks, to point out the situation of rocks, shoals, or a channel.
To stream the buoy, is to let it fall by the ship's side into the water, before letting go the anchor.

Definition 2024


buoy

buoy

English

Noun

buoy (plural buoys)

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

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

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

  1. (transitive) To keep afloat or aloft; used with up.
  2. (transitive) To support or maintain at a high level.
    • Burke
      Those old prejudices, which buoy up the ponderous mass of his nobility, wealth, and title.
  3. (transitive) To mark with a buoy.
    to buoy an anchor; to buoy or buoy off a channel
    • Darwin
      Not one rock near the surface was discovered which was not buoyed by this floating weed.
  4. To maintain or enhance enthusiasm or confidence
    • 2013, Daniel Taylor, Danny Welbeck leads England's rout of Moldova but hit by Ukraine ban (in The Guardian, 6 September 2013)
      It ended up being a bittersweet night for England, full of goals to send the crowd home happy, buoyed by the news that Montenegro and Poland had drawn elsewhere in Group H but also with a measure of regret about what happened to Danny Welbeck and what it means for Roy Hodgson's team going into a much more difficult assignment against Ukraine.
    Buoyed by the huge success, they announced two other projects.
Derived terms
Translations

Derived terms


Kashmiri

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /boːj/, [boːj]

Noun

buoy m (plural baey, Perso-Arabic بوے, Devanagari बोय)

  1. brother

Related terms