What does "buoy" mean?
Buoy: To keep from sinking in a fluid, as in water or air; to keep afloat; -- with up.
Additional senses
- 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. Burke.
- 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. Darwin.
- 4.To float; to rise like a buoy. "Rising merit will buoy up at last." Pope.
Sources
- Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
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- Published: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00 · Modified: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00