Dictionary:

buoy

  (bū'ē, boi)

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.]

An anchored or moored floating object, other than a lightship, intended as an aid to navigation. Buoys are the most numerous of all engineered aids to navigation.

Buoys are intended to serve as daymarks. Some buoys, particularly those at turning points in channels, are provided with lights of distinctive characteristics for location and identification at night. Some buoys are equipped with apparatus for providing distinctive sounds at intervals so they can be used as aids to navigation in fog and darkness. Some buoys are equipped with radio beacons, and some have reflectors to make them more conspicuous to radar.

Over the years, a number of different buoyage systems have been developed in various parts of the world. In an effort to reduce the differences, the International Association of Lighthouse Authorities (IALA) recommended a uniform system that has been adopted by most European, African, and Asian nations.

This system, identified as IALA system A, has one feature that has not been acceptable to most nations in the Western Hemisphere and some Asian countries: the use of red buoys to port while entering a channel from seaward. These nations have adopted IALA system B, similar to system A but with the red buoys on the opposite side of the channel.

verb

1. To keep from yielding or failing during stress or difficulty. bolster, prop, support, sustain, uphold. See help/harm/harmless.
2. To raise the spirits of. animate, elate, elevate, exhilarate, flush, inspire, inspirit, lift, uplift. Obsolete exalt. See happy/unhappy.

Definition: float
Antonyms: drown, sink

n. an anchored float serving as a navigation mark, to show reefs or other hazards, or for mooring.

mark with an anchored float: (buoyed) a buoyed channel.

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.

Tutor's tip: After falling out of the boat, the "boy" (male child) clung to the "buoy" (device to warn ships of danger).

"Buoys" redirects here. For the band, see The Buoys.

A sea lion on navigational buoy #14 in San Diego Harbor.

Green can #11 near the mouth of the Saugatuck River.

A buoy is a floating device that can have many different purposes, which determine whether the buoy is anchored (stationary) or allowed to drift. The word is most commonly pronounced ([bɔɪ]) (as in buoyant), but in American English it is often pronounced [ˈbu.i].

Types

• Sea mark - aids pilotage by marking a maritime channel, hazard and administrative area to allow boats and ships to navigate safely.
• Lifebuoy - used as a life saving buoy designed to be thrown to a person in the water to provide buoyancy. Usually has a connecting line allowing the casualty to be pulled to the rescuer
• Submarine communication buoys - used for release in case of emergencies or for communication
• Communication buoy for a bottom pressure sensor, for tsunami detection.
• DAN buoy - has two meanings:
  • a large maritime navigational aid providing a platform for light and radio beacons
  • a lifebuoy with a flags used on yachts and smaller pleasure craft
• Sonobuoy - used by anti-submarine warfare aircraft to detect submarines by SONAR
• Surface Marker Buoy - taken on dives by scuba divers to mark their position underwater
• Decompression buoy - deployed by submerged scuba divers to mark their position underwater whilst doing decompression stops
• shot buoy - used to mark dive sites for the boat safety cover of scuba divers so that the divers can descend to the dive site more easily in conditions of low visibility or tidal currents and more safely do decompression stops on their ascent
• Mooring buoys - used to keep one end of a mooring cable or chain on the water's surface so that ships or boats can tie on to it
• Tripping buoys - used to keep one end of a 'tripping line' on the water's surface so that a stuck anchor can more easily be freed
• Weather buoys - equipped to measure weather parameters such as air temperature, barometric pressure, wind speed and direction and to report these data via satellite radio links to meteorological centres for use in forecasting and climate study. May be anchored (moored buoys) or allowed to drift (drifting buoys) in the open ocean currents. Position is calculated by the satellite.
• Tsunami buoys - anchored buoys that can detect sudden changes in undersea water pressure are used as part of tsunami warning systems in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
• Profiling buoy - specialised models which adjusts its buoyancy so that it will sink at a controlled rate to 2,000 metres below the surface while measuring sea temperatures and salinity. Then after typically 10 days it returns to the surface and transmits its data via satellite before sinking again.
• Ice marking buoys - used for marking ice holes in frozen lakes and rivers, so that snowmobiles do not drive over the holes.
• Marker buoys - used in naval warfare, particularly anti-submarine warfare, is a light-emitting or smoke-emitting, or both, marker using some kind of pyrotechnic to provide the flare and smoke. It is commonly a 3-inch (76 mm) diameter device about 20 inches (500 mm) long that is set off by contact with seawater and floats on the surface. Some markers extinguish after a set period and others are made to sink.
• Lobster trap buoys - brightly colored buoys used for the marking of lobster trap locations so the person lobster fishing can find their lobster traps. Each lobster fisherman has his or her own color markings so they know which one is theirs. They are only allowed to haul their own traps and must display their buoy color on their boat so law enforcement officials know what they should be hauling. The buoys are brightly colored so they can be seen under conditions when there is poor visiblity like rain, fog, sea smoke, etc.
• Waverider buoy - used to measure the movement of the water surface as a wave train. The wave train is analysed to determine statistics like the significant wave height and period, and wave direction.
• Target buoy - used to simulate target (like small boat) in live fire exercise by naval and coastal forces, usually targeted by weapons (medium size) like HMG's, rapid fire cannons (20 or so mm), autocannons (bigger ones up to 40 and 57mm) and also anti-tank rockets.

Other uses

• The word "buoyed" can also be used figuratively. For example, a person could buoy ('lift up') up his partner's spirits by providing help and empathy.
• George A. Stephen, founder of Weber-Stephen Products Co., invented the kettle grill by cutting a metal buoy in half and fashioning a dome shaped grill with a rounded lid.^[1]

Gallery

A buoy used as turn marker for sailing races.

Old iron buoys, most likely for mooring.

See also

• Lightvessel
• Lighthouse
• Captain John Bury

Wikisource has an original article from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica about:

Buoy

References

External links

• Lighthouses and Buoys

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
n. - bøje, afmærkningsbøje, redningskrans
v. tr. - holde oppe, holde flydende, opmuntre, afmærke

idioms:

• buoy up    holde op, holde flydende

Nederlands (Dutch)
boei, reddingsboei, bebakenen

Français (French)
n. - bouée, balise
v. tr. - baliser, liéger

idioms:

• buoy up    faire flotter, maintenir à flot, (fig) soutenir

Deutsch (German)
n. - Boje, Rettungsring
v. - ausbojen

idioms:

• buoy up    aufmuntern, flott erhalten

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - σημαδούρα, σημαντήρας

idioms:

• buoy up    κρατώ ψηλά, αναθαρρύνω

Italiano (Italian)
sostenere, far galleggiare, boa

idioms:

• buoy up    consolare

Português (Portuguese)
n. - bóia (f) (Náut.)
n. - fazer flutuar, manter boiando

idioms:

• buoy up    encorajar

Русский (Russian)
бакен, буй, ставить бакены, обставлять буями

idioms:

• buoy up    поднять настроение

Español (Spanish)
n. - boya, baliza
v. tr. - balizar, abalizar, aboyar, mantener a flote, animar

idioms:

• buoy up    animar, alentar

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - boj, prick
v. - pricka ut, hålla flott

中文（简体） (Chinese (Simplified))
浮标, 救生圈, 浮筒, 使浮起, 鼓励, 支撑

idioms:

• buoy up    使浮起, 支持

中文（繁體） (Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 浮標, 救生圈, 浮筒
v. tr. - 使浮起, 鼓勵, 支撐

idioms:

• buoy up    使浮起, 支持

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 부표
v. tr. - ~을 뜨게 하다, 용기를 주다, 부표로 표시하다

idioms:

• buoy up    뜨다

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - ブイ, 浮標, 救命ブイ
v. - 浮かす, 支える, 浮標で示す, 浮く, 浮かせておく, 勇気づける

idioms:

• buoy up    浮かせておく, 士気を高める

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) عوامه, طوافه (فعل) عوم, رفع, شجع, أشر بعوامات‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮מצוף, מתקן-הצלה‬
v. tr. - ‮הציף, החזיק במצב ציפה, תמך, רומם, עודד‬

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