Buoy
Buoy (bwoi or boi; 277) , noun
[Dutch boei buoy, fetter, from Old French boie, buie, chain, fetter, French bouée a buoy, from Latin boia. “Boiae genus vinculorum tam ferreae quam ligneae.” Festus. So called because chained to its place.]
(Nautical) 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.
Boiae genus vinculorum tam ferreae quam ligneae.
Collocations (9)
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 ({not transcribed}) , transitive verb
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.
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.
Buoy , intransitive verb
To float; to rise like a buoy.
Rising merit will buoy up at last.