1. A close empty cask, or a block of wood or cork, fastened by a rope to an anchor, and floating on the water, to show where the anchor is situated. Buoys are of various kinds, as can-buoys, in the form of a cone; nun-buoys, which are large in the middle, and tapering nearly to a point at each end; cable-buoys, empty casks, employed to buoy up the cable, in rocky anchorage. Buoys are used also as marks, to point out the situation of rocks, shoals, or a channel.
2. To stream the buoy is to let it fall by the ship's side into the water, before letting go the anchor.
A float; esp. a floating object moored to the bottom, to mark a channel or to point out the position of something beneath the water, as an anchor, shoal, rock, etc.
BUOY, a floating body used as a means of denoting any desired spot in a river, channel, or other place frequented by shipping. Buoys are made of various shapes and material, such as a small log of wood 6 or 8 inches diameter and about twice that length, an ordinary cask, or a special structure either of iron or wood, varying in strength, shape, and size according to the duty it is required to perform. Before an anchor is let go, a buoy is generally attached to it, the length of the buoy-rope being slightly greater than the depth of water at high tide. This is done that if for any reason it should become necessary to slip the cable, both anchor and cable may be afterwards recovered the more readily, their position being denoted by the buoy, and also because it is of service to know the position of the anchor before attempting to weigh it. The buoys most commonly used for this purpose are of the shape of two cones brought together at their bases, and are made of sheet iron, usually galvanized; they are called Nun-buoys. Mooring-buoys are placed in convenient positions so that ships may make fast to them instead of dropping their anchors, and are generally provided with large ring and eye bolts for this purpose. Such buoys are usually of a cylindrical shape, and are made either of iron or wood. They must have sufficient buoyancy to support the weight of a cable of the required strength for the size of ship it is intended to moor, and at the same time be high enough out of the water to make themselves conspicuous. One of the largest and most approved mooring buoys recently made consisted of a cylinder 9 feet long and 6 feet 9 inches diameter, the edges of the ends being rounded off; it was made of iron plates -∣ inch thick, and was divided into two water-tight...compartments by an iron flat passing through the axis of the cylinder; a watertight iron trunk was fitted, passing through the buoy at the centre, at right angles to the flat, for the cable to go through, so that it might be secured on the upper surface of the buoy.
Buoys are also used to mark the positions of sands and shoals. A usual shape given to them in rivers and sheltered places is that of a frustum of a cone, the smaller end being placed downwards, and the name of the buoy—a name which indicates the shoal it marks—being painted in large letters on the upper end. In more exposed positions the buoys have to be larger and stronger, and are usually made of an egg-shape flattened at the bottom. The largest and most approved are made of iron plates ⅜ inch and ⅜ inch thick, with a smaller buoy of similar shape, built within the larger one, so as to divide it into two watertight compartments. The advantage of the division in this case, and in the case of the mooring buoy described above, is, that the buoy is less liable to be sunk by collision with passing vessels, since if one compartment is damaged the other has sufficient buoyancy to float the whole. The largest of these buoys are about 15 feet 6 inches high, and 10 feet diameter at the widest part, the inner buoy being 9 feet high and 8 feet diameter.
A bell which is frequently placed on a buoy is of great service at night or in foggy weather, the motion of the buoy as it is tossed about by the waves causing the bell to ring.
9th ed. Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 4, p. 530 [614 words — estimated reading time: 4 minutes]
1. The property of floating on the surface of a liquid, or in a fluid, as in the atmosphere; specific lightness, which is inversely as the weight compared with that of an equal volume of water.
2. The upward pressure exerted upon a floating body by a fluid, which is equal to the weight of the body; hence, also, the weight of a floating body, as measured by the volume of fluid displaced.
V.heighten, elevate, raise, lift, erect, set up, stick up, perch up, perk up, tilt up, rear, hoist, heave, uplift, upraise, uprear, upbear, upcast, uphoist, upheave, buoy, weigh mount, give a lift, exalt, sublimate, place on a pedestal, set on a pedestal, escalate (increase) 35, 102, 194, take up, drag up, fish up, dredge, stand up, rise up, get up, jump up, spring to one's feet, hold oneself, hold one's head up, drawn oneself up to his full height
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