buoy up

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

"We've basically just put money in to buoy up their business and there's no way we can now sell it."

From BBC • Feb. 17, 2026

I hate people who use others as props to buoy up their idiotic self-conceits.

From The New Yorker • Oct. 17, 2016

Sometimes I wonder why I even bother learning to swim when I could just buoy up and speed up with all these water aids.

From New York Times • Aug. 11, 2016

The grandly sizzling New Orleans funk band might be a little tuckered out after its Mardi Gras gig at Tipitina’s in the Crescent City, but Seattle fans will surely buoy up the boys.

From Seattle Times • Mar. 5, 2014

There was no doubt she indulged in these boorish discourtesies simply to buoy up her own ego, which must have suffered greatly.

From Greener Than You Think by Moore, Ward