• Anchor

    Pronunciation

    • UK IPA: /ˈæŋkÉ™/
    • US enPR: ăngʹkÉ™r, IPA: /ˈæŋkÉš/
    • US IPA: /ˈeɪŋkÉš/
    • Rhymes: -æŋkÉ™(r)

    Alternative forms

    Origin

    Middle English anker, Old English ancor, from Latin ancora, from (or cognate with) Ancient Greek ἄγκυρα, from Proto-Indo-European *ang- ("corner, hirn"). The modern spelling is a sixteenth-century modification to better represent the Latin misspelling anchora.

    Full definition of anchor

    Noun

    anchor

    (plural anchors)
    1. (nautical) A tool used to moor a vessel to the bottom of a sea or river to resist movement.
      1. 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.
      2. (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).
      • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, Mr. Pratt's Patients Chapter 10, Men that I knew around Wapatomac didn't wear high, shiny plug hats, nor yeller spring overcoats, nor carry canes with ivory heads as big as a catboat's anchor, as you might say.
    2. (nautical) The combined anchoring gear (anchor, rode, and fittings such as bitts, cat, and windlass.)
    3. 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.
    4. (Internet) A marked point in a document that can be the target of a hyperlink.
    5. (television) An anchorman or anchorwoman.
    6. (athletics) The final runner in a relay race.
    7. (economics) A superstore or other facility that serves as a focus to bring customers into an area.
      • 2006, Planning: For the Natural and Built Environment (issues 1650-1666, page 15)Supermarkets have also had to adjust. Tesco, Sainsbury's and Asda have put a much greater emphasis on developing smaller high street stores or becoming anchors for mixed-used regeneration schemes ...
    8. (figurative) That which gives stability or security.
      • Bible, Hebrews vi. 19which hope we have as an anchor of the soul
    9. (architecture) A metal tie holding adjoining parts of a building together.
    10. (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.
    11. One of the anchor-shaped spicules of certain sponges.
    12. One of the calcareous spinules of certain holothurians, as in species of Synapta.

    Derived terms

    Verb

    1. To hold an object, especially a ship or a boat to a fixed point.
    2. To cast anchor; to come to anchor.Our ship (or the captain) anchored in the stream.
    3. To stop; to fix or rest.
      • ShakespeareMy invention ... anchors on Isabel.
    4. To provide emotional stability for a person in distress.
    5. To perform as an anchorman.

    Anagrams

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