Forms: 5–7 boye, 6 bwoy, (buie, buy,) 6–8 boy, (7 bouye, buye, boigh, bowie, boa, pl. boes), 7– buoy. [15th c. boye corresponds to OF. boye (Diez), boyee (Palsgr.), mod.F. bouée, Norm. boie (Littré), Sp. boya, Pg. boia ‘buoy’; Du. boei, MDu. boeie ‘buoy,’ and ‘fetter’; the same word as OF. boie, buie, boe, bue, beue, Pr. boia, OSp. boya fetter, chain:—L. boia halter, fetter (cf. BOY sb.2); applied to a buoy because of its being fettered to a spot. It is not clear whether the Eng. was originally from OF., or MDu. The pronunciation (bwoi), indicated already in Hakluyt, is recognized by all orthoepists British and American; but (boi) is universal among sailors, and now prevalent in England: Annandale’s Imperial Dictionary, 1885, has (boi or bwoi), Cassell’s Encyclopædic Dict., 1879, says ‘u silent.’ Some orthoepists give būi.]
1. A floating object fastened in a particular place to point out the position of things under the water (as anchors, shoals, rocks), or the course which ships have to take; or to float a cable in a rocky anchorage to prevent its chafing against the rocks (= cable-buoy, mooring-buoy). Bell-buoy, a buoy fitted with a bell, to ring with the agitation of the water, and so give warning of danger. See also CAN-BUOY, NUN-BUOY. b. Something adapted to buoy up or keep afloat a person in the water (= life-buoy).
1466. Mann. & Househ. Exp., 325. Kabeles, and an hawser, and ij. boyes.
1530. Palsgr., 199/1. Boy of an ancre, boyee.
1584. R. Norman, trans. Safegarde of Saylers (1605), 2. The markes of the souther Buye. Ibid., 6. The Buye vpon the Nes.
1600. Hakluyt, Voy. (1810), III. 490. Marking … how ur bwoy floated vpon the water.
1634. Brereton, Trav. (1844), 4. The Flats … where buoys are placed, ’twixt which all ships are to sail.
1677. Yarranton, Engl. Improv., 41. An Harbour … where a Boy and a Cord two Inches Diameter will be sufficient to a hold a Ship.
1802. Southey, Inchcape Rock. That bell on the Inchcape Rock; On a buoy in the storm it floated and swung, And over the waves its warning rung.
1840. Hood, Up the Rhine, 25. The Buoys which mark the entrance into the Maas.
1884. G. C. Davies, Norfolk Broads, xl. 315. The melancholy cadence of the bell-buoy.
2. fig. Something that marks out a course, indicates danger, or keeps one afloat.
a. 1603. T. Cartwright, Confut. Rhem. N. T. (1618), Pref. 10. Which haue waded so farre … as the Bowies and markes of holy Scriptures doe teach them.
1660. Z. Crofton, Fasten. St. Peter’s Fett., To Rdr. 7. Reformed Churches [are made] our lanched boighs to detect our dangers.
a. 1770. G. Whitefield, Serm., xxxii. Wks. (1772), VI. 16. That little love … is a sufficient buoy against all the storms and tempests of this boisterous world.
1803. Bristed, Pedest. Tour, I. 149. Having no intellectual buoy by which to steer his course.
3. attrib. (See also BUOY-ROPE.)
1668. Wilkins, Real Char., II. vii. § 6. 186. Cone with Cone: having Base to Base … Buoy figure.
1872. Baker, Nile Tribut., xiii. 225. The buoy end is carried in the left hand.
1846. M’Culloch, Acc. Brit. Empire (1854), II. 167. Masters in the buoy or light service.
