can buoy

noun

a cylindrical, unlighted buoy used as a channel marker.

Compare nun buoy.

Origin of can buoy

First recorded in 1620–30

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for can buoy

Historical Examples of can buoy

He had so little room that his main-boom hit the can-buoy as he swept by.
The Seiners
James B. (James Brendan) Connolly

British Dictionary definitions for can buoy

can buoy

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 watersCompare 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