nun buoy

[ nuhn ]
/ nʌn /

noun

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

Origin of nun buoy

1695–1705; obsolete nun spinning top + buoy

Example sentences from the Web for nun buoy

  • 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

Word Origin for nun buoy

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