buoy
English
Etymology
From Middle English boy, boye, from Middle Dutch boeye (“float, buoy”), perhaps a special use of Middle Dutch boeye (“shackle, fetter”), from Old French buie (“fetter, chain”) (compare modern bouée), probably from Frankish *baukn, or alternatively from Latin boia (“a (leather) collar, band, fetter”), from Ancient Greek βόεος (bóeos), βόειος (bóeios, “of ox-hide”), from βοῦς (boûs, “ox”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷṓws (“cow”).
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation, Canada) IPA(key): /ˈbɔɪ/
Audio (Southern England) (file) - Homophone: boy
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈbu.i/, /ˈbɔɪ/
- Rhymes: -uːi, -ɔɪ
- (obsolete) IPA(key): /ˈbwɔɪ/
Noun
buoy (plural buoys)
- (nautical) A float moored in water to mark a location, warn of danger, indicate a navigational channel or for other purposes
- 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, OCLC 246633669, PC, scene: Communications: Administration Codex entry:
- While comm buoys allow rapid transmission, there is a finite amount of bandwidth available. Given that trillions of people may be trying to pass a message through a given buoy at any one time, access to the network is parceled out on priority tiers.
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- A life-buoy; a life preserver.
Derived terms
- anchor buoy
- buoyancy
- buoyant
- buoy rope
- buoy tender
- cable buoy
- dan buoy
- lifebuoy
- light buoy
- mooring buoy
- nun buoy
- pull buoy
- safety buoy
- stream the buoy
- whistling buoy
Translations
moored float
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life preserver — see life preserver
Verb
buoy (third-person singular simple present buoys, present participle buoying, simple past and past participle buoyed)
- (transitive) To keep afloat or aloft; used with up.
- (transitive) To support or maintain at a high level.
- 2017 May 18, Rapkin, Mickey, “The Oral History of Celine Dion’s ‘My Heart Will Go On’: Controversies, Doubts & ‘Belly Pains’ In the Studio”, in Billboard:
- “My Heart Will Go On” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on Feb. 28, 1998, buoying the Titanic soundtrack’s 16-week run atop the Billboard 200.
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- (transitive) To mark with a buoy.
- to buoy an anchor; to buoy or buoy off a channel
- 1839, Robert FitzRoy; Phillip Parker King; Charles Darwin, chapter 13, in Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty’s Ships Adventure and Beagle, between the Years 1826 and 1836, […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Henry Colburn, […], OCLC 228675426, page [https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/011823366 303]:
- Not one rock near the surface was discovered which was not buoyed by this floating weed.
- To maintain or enhance enthusiasm or confidence; to lift the spirits of.
- 6 September 2013, Daniel Taylor, “Danny Welbeck leads England's rout of Moldova but hit by Ukraine ban”, in The Guardian:
- 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.
- 2018, James Lambert, “A multitude of ‘lishes’: The nomenclature of hybridity”, in English World-Wide, page 18:
- Considering the results of the study, today John may be buoyed at the clear trend of increasing numbers of new “lishes” for each successive decade since the 1950s, and the fact that nothing in the data suggests this trend is likely to falter.
- Buoyed by the huge success, they announced two other projects.
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Derived terms
- buoy up
Derived terms
- buoy up
- can buoy
- conical buoy
- bell buoy
- ring buoy
- life buoy
- breeches buoy
Translations
keep afloat or aloft
|
support or maintain at a high level
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mark with a buoy
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maintain or enhance enthusiasm or confidence
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Further reading
- “buoy”, in Collins English Dictionary.
- “buoy, n,v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
- buoy at OneLook Dictionary Search
- “buoy”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
- “buoy” in TheFreeDictionary.com, Huntingdon Valley, Pa.: Farlex, Inc., 2003–2023.
Anagrams
- buyo