ANCHOR

anchor, ground tackle

(noun) a mechanical device that prevents a vessel from moving

anchor, mainstay, keystone, backbone, linchpin, lynchpin

(noun) a central cohesive source of support and stability; “faith is his anchor”; “the keystone of campaign reform was the ban on soft money”; “he is the linchpin of this firm”

anchor, anchorman, anchorperson

(noun) a television reporter who coordinates a broadcast to which several correspondents contribute

anchor, cast anchor, drop anchor

(verb) secure a vessel with an anchor; “We anchored at Baltimore”

anchor, ground

(verb) fix firmly and stably; “anchor the lamppost in concrete”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

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Etymology

Proper noun

Anchor

A male given name.

Anagrams

• Charon, archon, noarch, rancho

Etymology 1

Noun

anchor (plural anchors)

(nautical) A tool used to moor a vessel to the bottom of a sea or river to resist movement.

(nautical) An iron device so shaped as to grip the bottom and hold a vessel at her berth by the chain or rope attached. (FM 55-501).

(nautical) The combined anchoring gear (anchor, rode, bill/peak and fittings such as bitts, cat, and windlass.)

(heraldiccharge) Representation of the nautical tool, used as a heraldic charge.

Any instrument serving a purpose like that of a ship's anchor, such as an arrangement of timber to hold a dam fast; a device to hold the end of a bridge cable etc.; or a device used in metalworking to hold the core of a mould in place.

(Internet) A marked point in a document that can be the target of a hyperlink.

(television) An anchorman or anchorwoman.

(athletics) The final runner in a relay race.

(archery) A point that is touched by the draw hand or string when the bow is fully drawn and ready to shoot.

(economics) A superstore or other facility that serves as a focus to bring customers into an area.

Synonym: anchor tenant

(figurative) That which gives stability or security.

(architecture) A metal tie holding adjoining parts of a building together.

(architecture) Carved work, somewhat resembling an anchor or arrowhead; part of the ornaments of certain mouldings. It is seen in the echinus, or egg-and-anchor (called also egg-and-dart, egg-and-tongue) ornament.

One of the anchor-shaped spicules of certain sponges.

One of the calcareous spinules of certain holothurians, as in species of Synapta.

(cartomancy) The thirty-fifth Lenormand card.

(obsolete) An anchorite or anchoress.

Usage notes

Formerly a vessel would differentiate amongst the anchors carried as waist anchor, best bower, bower, stream and kedge anchors, depending on purpose and, to a great extent, on mass and size of the anchor. Modern usage is storm anchor for the heaviest anchor with the longest rode, best bower or simply bower for the most commonly used anchor deployed from the bow, and stream or lunch hook for a small, light anchor used for temporary moorage and often deployed from the stern.

Etymology 2

Verb

anchor (third-person singular simple present anchors, present participle anchoring, simple past and past participle anchored)

To connect an object, especially a ship or a boat, to a fixed point.

To cast anchor; to come to anchor.

To stop; to fix or rest.

To provide emotional stability for a person in distress.

To perform as an anchorman or anchorwoman.

To be stuck; to be unable to move away from a position.

Synonyms

• (to hold an object to a fixed point): affix, fix

• (to cast anchor): drop anchor

• (to stop): cease, hold; See also stop

• (to provide emotional stability): support

• (to perform as a TV anchorman): host, present

• (to be stuck): bog down, embog, enmire

Etymology 3

Alternative forms.

Noun

anchor (plural anchors)

Alternative form of anker

Anagrams

• Charon, archon, noarch, rancho

Source: Wiktionary

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An"chor, n. Etym: [OE. anker, AS. ancor, oncer, L. ancora, sometimes spelt anchora, fr. Gr. angle: cf. F. ancre. See Angle, n.]

1. A iron instrument which is attached to a ship by a cable (rope or chain), and which, being cast overboard, lays hold of the earth by a fluke or hook and thus retains the ship in a particular station.

Note: The common anchor consists of a straight bar called a shank, having at one end a transverse bar called a stock, above which is a ring for the cable, and at the other end the crown, from which branch out two or more arms with flukes, forming with the shank a suitable angle to enter the ground.

Note: Formerly the largest and strongest anchor was the sheet anchor (hence, Fig., best hope or last refuge), called also waist anchor. Now the bower and the sheet anchor are usually alike. Then came the best bower and the small bower (so called from being carried on the bows). The stream anchor is one fourth the weight of the bower anchor. Kedges or kedge anchors are light anchors used in warping.

2. Any instrument or contrivance serving a purpose like that of a ship's anchor, as an arrangement of timber to hold a dam fast; a contrivance to hold the end of a bridge cable, or other similar part; a contrivance used by founders to hold the core of a mold in place.

3. Fig.: That which gives stability or security; that on which we place dependence for safety. Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul. Heb. vi. 19.

4. (Her.)

Definition: An emblem of hope.

5. (Arch.) (a) A metal tie holding adjoining parts of a building together. (b) Carved work, somewhat resembling an anchor or arrowhead; -- a part of the ornaments of certain moldings. It is seen in the echinus, or egg-and-anchor (called also egg-and-dart, egg-and-tongue) ornament.

6. (Zoöl.)

Definition: One of the anchor-shaped spicules of certain sponges; also, one of the calcareous spinules of certain Holothurians, as in species of Synapta. Anchor ice. See under Ice.

– Anchor ring. (Math.) Same as Annulus, 2 (b).

– Anchor stock (Naut.), the crossbar at the top of the shank at right angles to the arms.

– The anchor comes home, when it drags over the bottom as the ship drifts.

– Foul anchor, the anchor when it hooks, or is entangled with, another anchor, or with a cable or wreck, or when the slack cable entangled.

– The anchor is acockbill, when it is suspended perpendicularly from the cathead, ready to be let go.

– The anchor is apeak, when the cable is drawn in do tight as to bring to ship directly over it.

– The anchor is atrip, or aweigh, when it is lifted out of the ground.

– The anchor is awash, when it is hove up to the surface of the water.

– At anchor, anchored.

– To back an anchor, to increase the holding power by laying down a small anchor ahead of that by which the ship rides, with the cable fastened to the crown of the latter to prevent its coming home.

– To cast anchor, to drop or let go an anchor to keep a ship at rest.

– To cat the anchor, to hoist the anchor to the cathead and pass the ring-stopper.

– To fish the anchor, to hoist the flukes to their resting place (called the bill-boards), and pass the shank painter.

– To weigh anchor, to heave or raise the anchor so as to sail away.

An"chor, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Anchored; p. pr. & vb. n. Anchoring.] Etym: [Cf. F. ancrer.]

1. To place at anchor; to secure by an anchor; as, to anchor a ship.

2. To fix or fasten; to fix in a stable condition; as, to anchor the cables of a suspension bridge. Till that my nails were anchored in thine eyes. Shak.

An"chor, v. i.

1. To cast anchor; to come to anchor; as, our ship (or the captain) anchored in the stream.

2. To stop; to fix or rest. My invention . . . anchors on Isabel. Shak.

An"chor, n. Etym: [OE. anker, ancre, AS. ancra, fr. L. anachoreta. See Anchoret.]

Definition: An anchoret. [Obs.] Shak.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition

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