Dictionary entry

Buoy (2)

Webster's Dictionary 1913

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.

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.