From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
buoy
n 1: bright-colored; a float attached by rope to the seabed to
mark channels in a harbor or underwater hazards
v 1: float on the surface of water
2: keep afloat; "The life vest buoyed him up" [syn: buoy,
buoy up]
3: mark with a buoy
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [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 The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [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.
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Those old prejudices, which buoy up the ponderous
mass of his nobility, wealth, and title. --Burke.
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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.
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Not one rock near the surface was discovered which
was not buoyed by this floating weed. --Darwin.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Buoy \Buoy\, v. i.
To float; to rise like a buoy. "Rising merit will buoy up at
last." --Pope.
[1913 Webster]