buoy

1 :  to mark by or as if by a float or buoy buoy an anchor

2a :  to keep afloat a raft buoyed by empty oil drumsb :  support, uplift an economy buoyed by the dramatic postwar growth of industry — Time

3 :  to raise the spirits of —usually used with up hope buoys him up

:  float —usually used with up They buoyed up like a cork.

1 :  a floating object anchored in a body of water to mark a channel or to warn of danger

2 :  life buoy

1 :  to keep from sinking :  keep afloat

2 :  to brighten the mood of … if hope had not buoyed me up, I must have … given up. — Robert Louis Stevenson, Kidnapped