buoy
part of speech
noun (a buoy, buoys); verb (buoy, buoys, buoyed, buoying)
meaning for a pupil
1) A floating object in the sea or a river, fixed in place, that marks a safe path, a danger, or where to stop. tree →
2) A life buoy: a ring that floats, thrown to someone in the water. tree →
3) (verb) To keep something afloat. tree →
4) (verb) Buoy up: to make someone feel more cheerful or hopeful. tree →
sense in the lessons
In safety and beach lessons, swim between the flags and stay away from buoys marking boat lanes; throw a life buoy to someone in trouble, don't jump in. In science, buoys float because of buoyancy. In everyday talk, good news buoys people up. Phrases: life buoy, buoyed up, marker buoy.
examples
- A red buoy marked the rocks. tree →
- Throw the life buoy to the swimmer! tree →
- The boats tied up to the buoys in the harbour. tree →
- The good news buoyed everyone's spirits. tree →
- The buoy bobbed up and down on the waves. tree →
- Swimmers must stay inside the yellow buoys. tree →
- The buoy floated back and forth in the shallow water. tree →
note
Pronounced BOY in the UK and BOO-ee in the US. Same sound as boy in UK English, a homophone. Adjective buoyant; noun buoyancy (the upward push of water).
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «buoy» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.