dan buoy

Canada, UK/dæn ˈbɔɪ/US/dæn ˈbu.i/

noun

A small buoy, sometimes made of cork with a small flag, used to temporarily mark a position at sea, normally to mark a fishing ground, a minesweeping area, or a man overboard.

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Meanings

noundan buoy (plural dan buoys)

plural dan buoys

  1. nauticalA small buoy, sometimes made of cork with a small flag, used to temporarily mark a position at sea, normally to mark a fishing ground, a minesweeping area, or a man overboard.

    A dan buoy is usually laid from aft, the anchor and sinker being hung outboard through an after fairlead and the dan buoy hung from a tripping hook on a whip from the minesweeping davit, the mooring being led outboard.

    1970 [1938], Great Britain. Hydrographic Department, chapter 1, in Admiralty Manual of Hydrographic Surveying, volume 2, United Kingdom: Hydrographer of the Navy, Dan Buoys (section 18), page 19

Origin

Uncertain. One theory is that the term comes from "danger buoy".

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Cite this entry
APA

dan buoy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dan%20buoy

MLA

“dan buoy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dan%20buoy. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “dan buoy,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dan%20buoy.

Source: dan buoy on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.