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.

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

Although no single moment in the debate seems likely to substantially alter the course of the race, debates can buoy or sink candidacies.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 10, 2024

But his mother hopes that his love of learning can buoy him through this difficult period.

From New York Times • Jul. 25, 2021

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

From BBC • May 29, 2013

He and Sara loaded the diving hood into a boat and rowed to the nearby area which had been marked with a can buoy.

From Saboteurs on the River by Wirt, Mildred A. (Mildred Augustine)

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