'Buoy' definitions:

Definition of 'buoy'

noun

Bright-colored; a float attached by rope to the seabed to mark channels in a harbor or underwater hazards

verb

Float on the surface of water

verb

Keep afloat; "The life vest buoyed him up" [syn: buoy, buoy up]

verb

Mark with a buoy

From: GCIDE

Buoy \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. [1913 Webster]
2. To support or sustain; to preserve from sinking into ruin or despondency. [1913 Webster]
Those old prejudices, which buoy up the ponderous mass of his nobility, wealth, and title. --Burke. [1913 Webster]
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. [1913 Webster]
Not one rock near the surface was discovered which was not buoyed by this floating weed. --Darwin. [1913 Webster]

From: GCIDE

Buoy \Buoy\ (bwoi or boi; 277), 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. [1913 Webster]
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. [1913 Webster]

From: GCIDE

Buoy \Buoy\, v. i. To float; to rise like a buoy. "Rising merit will buoy up at last." --Pope. [1913 Webster]