▪ I. buoy, n.
(bɔɪ, bwɔɪ)
Forms: 5–7 boye, 6 bwoy, (buie, buy), 6–8 boy, (7 bouye, buye, boigh, bowie, boa, pl. boes), 7– buoy.
[15th c. boye corresponds to OF. boye (Diez), boyee (Palsgr.), modF. bouée, Norm. boie (Littré), Sp. boya, Pg. boia ‘buoy’; Du. boei, MDu. boeie ‘buoy’, and ‘fetter’; the same word as OF. boie, buie, boe, bue, beue, Pr. boia, OSp. boya fetter, chain:—L. boia halter, fetter (cf. boy n.2); applied to a buoy because of its being fettered to a spot. It is not clear whether the Eng. was originally from OF., or MDu. The pronunciation (bwɔɪ), indicated already in Hakluyt, is recognized by all orthoepists British and American; but (bɔɪ) is universal among sailors, and now prevalent in England: Annandale's Imperial Dictionary, 1885, has (bɔɪ or bwɔɪ), Cassell's Encyclopædic Dict., 1879, says ‘u silent’. Some orthoepists give (buɪ).]
1. a. A floating object fastened in a particular place to point out the position of things under the water (as anchors, shoals, rocks), or the course which ships have to take; or to float a cable in a rocky anchorage to prevent its chafing against the rocks (= cable-buoy, mooring-buoy). bell-buoy, a buoy fitted with a bell, to ring with the agitation of the water, and so give warning of danger. See also can-buoy, nun-buoy. b. Something adapted to buoy up or keep afloat a person in the water (= life-buoy).
| 1466 Mann. & Househ. Exp. 325 Kabeles, and an hawser, and ij. boyes. 1530 Palsgr. 199/1 Boy of an ancre, boyee. 1584 R. Norman Safeguard of Sailers 6 The markes of the southern Buie. Ibid. 10 The Buy upon the Nes. 1600 Hakluyt Voy. (1810) III. 490 Marking..how ur bwoy floated vpon the water. 1634 Brereton Trav. (1844) 4 The Flats..where buoys are placed, 'twixt which all ships are to sail. 1677 A. Yarranton Engl. Improv. 41 An Harbour..where a Boy and a Cord two Inches Diameter will be sufficient to a hold a Ship. 1802 Southey Inchcape Rock, That bell on the Inchcape Rock; On a buoy in the storm it floated and swung, And over the waves its warning rung. 1840 Hood Up Rhine 25 The Buoys which mark the entrance into the Maas. 1884 G. C. Davies Norfolk Broads xl. 315 The melancholy cadence of the bell-buoy. |
2. fig. Something which marks out a course, indicates danger, or keeps one afloat.
| a 1603 T. Cartwright Confut. Rhem. N.T. (1618) Pref. 10 Which haue waded so farre..as the Bowies and markes of holy Scriptures doe teach them. 1660 Z. Crofton Fasten. St. Peter's Fett. To Rdr. 7 Reformed Churches [are made] our lanched boighs to detect our dangers. a 1770 G. Whitefield Serm. xxxii. Wks. (1772) VI. 16 Love..is a..buoy against the tempests of this boisterous world. 1803 Bristed Pedest. Tour I. 149 Having no intellectual buoy by which to steer his course. |
3. attrib. (See also buoy-rope.)
| 1668 Wilkins Real Char. ii. vii. §6. 186 Cone with Cone: having Base to Base..Buoy figure. 1870 Chambers's Jrnl. 15 Jan. 34/2 This ‘buoy-shifting’ is a duty which calls forth all the skill and energy of the officers and men. 1872 Baker Nile Tribut. xiii. 225 The buoy end is carried in the left hand. 1846 M{supc}Culloch Acc. Brit. Empire (1854) II. 167 Masters in the buoy or light service. a 1877 Knight Dict. Mech., Buoy-safe, a metallic body divided into compartments, by which it is braced, and having water-tight doors opening to the inside. 1921 Dict. Occup. Terms (1927) §731 Buoy master. |
▪ II. buoy, v.
(bɔɪ, bwɔɪ)
Also 7 boy, bouy.
[In senses 1–3 app. adapted from some foreign source: cf. Sp. boyar to float (f. boya buoy n.), and see buoyant; in sense 4 from the n.]
† 1. intr. To rise to, or float on, the surface of a liquid; to rise, swell (as the sea). Obs.
| 1605 Shakes. Lear iii. vii. 60 The Sea, with such a storme..would haue buoy'd vp And quench'd the Stelled fires. 1625 Purchas Pilgrimes ii. 1617 Our Wine wee saued which boyed to the shoare. 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 73 Which will not allow an heavy body left to itself within a flowsom one that is lighter, to buoy up. |
† b. fig. Obs.
| 1709 Pope Ess. Crit. 463 Rising merit will buoy up at last. 1716–8 ― in Lady M. W. Montague's Lett. I. viii. 24 Folly..will buoy up..in spite of all our art to keep it down. 1742 Young Nt. Th. vi. 251 When the great Soul buoys up to this high Point. |
2. trans. To keep from sinking (in a fluid), to keep afloat; transf. to keep up, support, sustain. (Usually with up.)
| 1651 T. Barker Art Angling (1653) 8 The menow may swim..being boyed up with a Cork or Quill. 1774 Burke Corr. (1844) I. 490 It is as hard to sink a cork, as to buoy up a lump of lead. 1782 A. Monro Compar. Anat. (ed. 3) 3 The bat and flying squirrel..have wings to buoy themselves up in the air. 1809 W. Irving Knickerb. ii. v. (1849) 113 Thus buoyed up, he floated on the waves. |
b. To raise to the surface of a liquid; to bring afloat (e.g. a sunken ship).
| 1616 Beaum. & Fl. Cust. Country i. i, I will descend to thee, And buoy thee up. 1667 Lond. Gaz. No. 196/3 She sunk, with a Lighter..Great care is taking to Buoy them up with all the speed that may be. 1756 C. Lucas Ess. Waters III. 297 They..buoy up some particles of the iron & carry it to the surface. |
3. fig. To keep up, keep from sinking, support, sustain, (persons, courage, hope, heart, spirits, etc.). (Usually with up.)
| 1645 in Rushw. Hist. Coll. iv. I. 136 Lord Byron buoy'd up with continual hopes. 1681 Dryden Abs. & Achit. 821 Brave to buoy the State. a 1797 H. Walpole Mem. Geo. III, (1845) I. ix. 135 France had been buoyed up by the ambition..of Spain. 1836 Marryat Japhet xliii, The hopes which had been..buoying me up. |
b. To raise, lift, cause to rise (the heart, spirits, etc.). (Usually with up.)
| 1652 J. Wadsworth tr. Sandoval's Civ. Wars Spain 181 They ought to..boüy them up out of that gulf of miserie whereinto they were plunged. 1662 Fuller Worthies i. 262 Hearts sunk down are not to be boyed up. a 1796 Burke Regic. Peace i. Wks. VIII. 86 Buoyed up to the highest point of practical vigour. a 1850 Rossetti Dante & Circ. i. (1874) 185 The spirits of thy life depart Daily to heaven with her—they so are buoy'd With their desire. |
4. To furnish or mark with a buoy or buoys; to mark as with a buoy (rarely with out).
| 1596 Raleigh Discov. Guiana 36 Which shold [= shoal] John Douglas boyed and bekonned for them before. 1707 Lond. Gaz. No. 4350/3 They have..lately buoy'd a new Chanel..with 3 Black Buoys. 1710 in Picton L'pool Munic. Rec. (1886) II. 49 The buoying out of Formby Channell. 1772–84 Cook Voy. (1790) I. 215 The captain sounded and buoyed the bar. 1883 Duke of Argyll Sp. Ho. Lords 19 July, Rocks on the [Scotch] west coast are not sufficiently buoyed and beaconed. |