anchor
/ˈæŋ.kəː/ noun, verb, proper noun
Forms anchors anchoring anchored anchour
- noun (nautical) A tool used to moor a vessel to the bottom of a sea or river to resist movement.
- noun (nautical) An iron device so shaped as to grip the bottom and hold a vessel at her berth by the chain or rope attached.
- noun (nautical) The combined anchoring gear (anchor, rode, bill/peak and fittings such as bitts, cat, and windlass.)
- noun (heraldry) Representation of the nautical tool, used as a heraldic charge.
- noun 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.
- noun (Internet) A marked point in a document that can be the target of a hyperlink.
- noun (computing) A line of code in a program which acts as a reference point for further code to be added immediately before or after, usually via copy and paste.
- noun (television) An anchorman or anchorwoman.
- verb To connect an object, especially a ship or a boat, to a fixed point.
- verb To cast anchor; to come to anchor. “Our ship (or the captain) anchored in the stream.”
- verb To stop; to fix or rest.
- verb To provide emotional stability for a person in distress.
- verb To perform as an anchorman or anchorwoman.
- verb To be stuck; to be unable to move away from a position.
- noun (obsolete) An anchorite or anchoress.
- proper noun A male given name.
Synonyms
anchor tenant affix fix drop anchor ride cease support host present bog down embog enmire hold ground tackle mainstay keystone backbone linchpin lynchpin anchorman anchorperson ground cast anchor
Etymology
From Middle English anker, from Old English ancor, ancra, from Latin ancora, from (or cognate with) Ancient Greek ἄγκυρα (ánkura). The modern form is a sixteenth-century modification after the Medieval Latin spelling anchora. Doublet of ancora, anker, angora, and Ankara.
From Middle English anchoren, ankeren, either from the noun or perhaps (via Old French ancrer) from a Medieval Latin verb ancorare, from the same Latin word ancora.
Inherited from Middle English ankre, ancre, from Old English ancer, ancra, from Latin anachōrēta, anachōrīta, either with significant shortening of the word within Old English or via an unattested Old Irish form.
Alternative form.
Webster’s 1913
- noun 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.
- noun 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.
- verb To place at anchor; to secure by an anchor; as, to anchor a ship.
- verb To fix or fasten; to fix in a stable condition; as, to anchor the cables of a suspension bridge.
Etymology [OE. anker, AS. ancor, oncer, L. ancora, sometimes spelt anchora, fr. Gr. angle: cf. F. ancre. See Angle, n.]
Etymology [Cf. F. ancrer.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “anchor”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details