1. A float moored in water to mark a location, warn of danger, or indicate a navigational channel.
2. A life buoy.

1. To keep afloat or aloft: a glider buoyed by air currents.
2. 1. To maintain at a high level; support: "the persistent ... takeover speculation, which has buoyed up the shares of banks" (Financial Times).
   2. To hearten or inspire; uplift: "buoyed up by the team spirit and the pride of the older generation back at home" (Judith Martin).
3. To mark with or as if with a buoy.

[Middle English boie, from Old French boue, probably of Germanic origin.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.