can buoy

American

noun

a cylindrical, unlighted buoy used as a channel marker.

can buoy British

noun

nautical a buoy with a flat-topped cylindrical shape above water, marking the left side of a channel leading into a harbour: red in British waters but green (occasionally black) in US waters Compare nun buoy

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of can buoy

First recorded in 1620–30

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

can buoy

By buying Exact Sciences and its series of cancer tests that generate about $3 billion in annual revenue, Abbott can buoy its own diagnostics business.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 20, 2025

Positive news on Covid treatments or cases can buoy enthusiasm, just as Merck’s announcement did on Friday.

From New York Times ● Oct. 4, 2021

But how it will play in the real Paris, Texas, and whether or not it can buoy Coach's sagging profits, is another matter.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2014

Fans can buoy you up, but pleasing them can leave you deaf to the wider audience.

From BBC ● May 29, 2013

So intent was the lieutenant-commander upon his intended prey that he had failed to notice the proximity of a black-and-white can buoy now almost on the starboard bow.

From With Beatty off Jutland A Romance of the Great Sea Fight by Westerman, Percy F. (Percy Francis)

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023