buoy
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Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
buoy
- /ˈbɔɪ/ UK
- /ˈboj/ British, Southern, Standard
- /ˈboɪ/ Australia, New Zealand
- /ˈbɔɪ/ Canada, US
- /ˈbu.i/ nonstandard, Canada, US
- /ˈbwɔɪ/ obsolete
Sounds like boy (some accents) · Rhymes with -ɔɪ, -uːi
Where it comes from
From Middle English boy, boye, from Middle Dutch boeye (“float, buoy”), from Old French boue (“piece of wood or cork that floats above an anchor to indicate where it is anchored”) (modern French bouée), ultimately from Frankish *baukn (“beacon”), from Proto-Germanic *baukną. Doublet of beacon.
Alternatively, and perhaps less likely (due to the unexplained shift in meaning), from Middle Dutch boeye (“shackle, fetter”), from Old French buie (“fetter, chain”), 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”).
Noun sense 2 was coined by American linguist Scott K. Lindell in 2003.
noun buoys
- A float moored in water to mark a location, warn of danger, indicate a navigational channel or for other purposes 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.
- A lifebuoy; a life preserver.
- A sign where the non-dominant hand is held in a stationary configuration as a landmark for meaning associations with the dominant hand. list buoy
verb buoys · buoying · buoyed
- To keep afloat or aloft; used with up.
- To support or maintain at a high level. “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.
- To mark with a buoy. to buoy an anchor; to buoy or buoy off a channel
- To maintain or enhance enthusiasm or confidence; to lift the spirits of. Buoyed by the huge success, they announced two other projects.
