Idiom idiom
buoy up
Meaning
To uplift, hearten, inspire, or raise the spirits of.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“Your kind words really buoy up my spirits.”
“The team needed a win to buoy up their confidence after a long string of losses.”
“The unexpected arrival of his old mentor served to buoy up his resolve during the most difficult phase of the research project.”
Anchors to
Last updated August 10, 2026