different between buoy vs buoyant

English

Etymology

From Middle English boy, boye, from Middle Dutch boeye (“float, buoy”), perhaps a special use of Middle Dutch boeye (“shackle, fetter”), from Old French buie (“fetter, chain”) (compare modern bouée), probably from Frankish *baukn, or alternatively from Latin boia (“a (leather) collar, band, fetter”), from Ancient Greek ????? (bóeos), ?????? (bóeios, “of ox-hide”), from ???? (boûs, “ox”), from Proto-Indo-European *g?ow- (“cow”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, Canada) IPA^(key): /?b??/

  Homophone: boy

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?bu.i/, /?b??/
• Rhymes: -u?i, -??
• (obsolete) IPA^(key): /?bw??/

Noun

buoy (plural buoys)

1. (nautical) A float moored in water to mark a location, warn of danger, or indicate a navigational channel.
2. A life-buoy; a life preserver.

Derived terms

• lifebuoy
• light buoy
• mooring buoy
• buoyant
• buoyancy

Translations

Verb

buoy (third-person singular simple present buoys, present participle buoying, simple past and past participle buoyed)

1. (transitive) To keep afloat or aloft; used with up.
2. (transitive) To support or maintain at a high level.
3. (transitive) To mark with a buoy.

   to buoy an anchor; to buoy or buoy off a channel

   • 1839, Charles Darwin, Journal of Researches into the Geology and Natural History of the Various Countries Visited by H.M.S. Beagle, London: Henry Colburn, Chapter 13, p. 303,^[1]

     Not one rock near the surface was discovered which was not buoyed by this floating weed.

4. To maintain or enhance enthusiasm or confidence; to lift the spirits of.
   • 2013, Daniel Taylor, Danny Welbeck leads England's rout of Moldova but hit by Ukraine ban (in The Guardian, 6 September 2013)[2]

     It ended up being a bittersweet night for England, full of goals to send the crowd home happy, buoyed by the news that Montenegro and Poland had drawn elsewhere in Group H but also with a measure of regret about what happened to Danny Welbeck and what it means for Roy Hodgson's team going into a much more difficult assignment against Ukraine.

   Buoyed by the huge success, they announced two other projects.

Derived terms

• buoy up

Translations

Derived terms

• buoy up
• can buoy
• conical buoy
• bell buoy
• ring buoy
• life buoy
• breeches buoy

Anagrams

• buyo

English

Etymology

buoy +? -ant

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?b??.?nt/
• Rhymes: -??.?nt

Adjective

buoyant (comparative more buoyant, superlative most buoyant)

1. Having buoyancy; able to float.
2. (figuratively) Lighthearted and lively.

3. (of an economy, business etc.) Involving or engaged in much successful trade or activity.

Related terms

• buoyancy
• buoy
• buoy up
• buoying

Translations

See also

• Archimedes' principle