nun buoy

[ nuhn ]

noun

a conical, unlighted buoy used as a channel marker, especially on the starboard side of a channel entering from seaward.

Origin of nun buoy

1695–1705; obsolete nun spinning top + buoy

Compare can buoy.

Words Nearby nun buoy

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use nun buoy in a sentence

I verily believe I could hit a nun buoy if it was anchored in any part of the ocean.
Jack in the Forecastle | John Sherburne Sleeper
The boat shaved a nun-buoy outside Barmouth Point so closely that Staff could almost have touched it by stretching out his arm.
The Bandbox | Louis Joseph Vance

British Dictionary definitions for nun buoy

nun buoy

/ (nʌn) /

noun

nautical a buoy, conical at the top, marking the right side of a channel leading into a harbour: green in British waters but red in US waters: Compare can buoy

Origin of nun buoy

C18: from obsolete nun a child's spinning top + 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

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