'Buoy' definitions:

Definition of 'buoy'

From: WordNet
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

Definition of '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]

Definition of 'Buoy'

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]

Definition of 'Buoy'

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

Synonyms of 'buoy'

From: Moby Thesaurus