Anchor definition
A source of security or stability.
noun
To be or become fixed.
verb
A rigid point of support, as for securing a rope.
noun
To keep from drifting, giving way, etc., by or as by an anchor.
verb
(nautical) A heavy object attached to a vessel by a cable, rope, or chain and dropped into the water to keep the vessel in place either by its weight or by its flukes, which grip the bottom.
noun
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A heavy object, usually a shaped iron weight with flukes, lowered by cable or chain to the bottom of a body of water to keep a vessel from drifting.
noun
A person who anchors a team, newscast, etc.
noun
(sports) To serve as an anchor for (a team or competition).
Anchor a relay race.
verb
To narrate or coordinate (a newscast).
verb
To cause to be fixed in place; fix or immobilize.
Fear anchoring him in the dark hallway; mussels anchoring themselves to a rock.
verb
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Anchor is defined as to fix or fasten.
An example of anchor is to secure a boat to the dock with rope.
verb
The definition of an anchor is a weight dropped into the water to stop the movement of a boat or other floating object.
A heavy weight connected to a ship by a chain is an example of a type of anchor.
noun
An anchorperson.
noun
An athlete, usually the strongest member of a team, who performs the last stage of a relay race or other competition.
noun
The person at the end of a tug-of-war team.
noun
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To provide or form an anchor store for.
Two major stores anchor each end of the shopping mall.
verb
To secure (a vessel) with an anchor.
verb
To secure with a fastener or similar device.
Bolts anchoring the deck to the house.
verb
To cause to feel attached or secure.
Memories anchoring us to our home town.
verb
To provide a basis for; establish or found.
verb
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(nautical) To drop anchor or lie at anchor.
verb
Any device that holds something else secure.
noun
Anything that gives or seems to give stability or security.
noun
A major retail store, corporate headquarters, etc. that stabilizes or stimulates the economic activity of the shopping center, office building, etc. where it is located.
noun
Designating the final leg, or stage, of a relay race.
adjective
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To serve as the end person for (a tug-of-war team)
verb
To serve as coordinator of the various reports and as chief reporter for (a newscast)
verb
To serve as an anchor for (a shopping center, etc.)
verb
To lower the anchor overboard so as to keep from drifting.
verb
A term used by Federal Reserve Governor Edward M. Gramlich in January 2003 to say that U.S. monetary policy needed an anchor, or a long-term strategy. He said that a clear strategy would help the Federal Reserve react to economic problems such as a surge in unemployment without riling financial markets.
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(nautical) A tool used to moor a vessel to the bottom of a sea or river to resist movement.
- 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.
noun
(nautical) The combined anchoring gear (anchor, rode, and fittings such as bitts, cat, and windlass.)
noun
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(athletics) The final runner in a relay race.
noun
(economics) A superstore or other facility that serves as a focus to bring customers into an area.
noun
(figuratively) That which gives stability or security.
noun
(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.
noun
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To hold an object, especially a ship or a boat to a fixed point.
verb
To cast anchor; to come to anchor.
Our ship (the captain) anchored in the stream.
verb
To stop; to fix or rest.
verb
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To provide emotional stability for a person in distress.
verb
To serve as the final contestant for (a relay team, bowling team, etc.)
verb
at anchor
- anchored
idiom
drop anchor
- to lower the anchor overboard
- to stay or settle (in a place)
idiom
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drag anchor
- to drift because of the failure of the anchor to hold
- to lose ground; slip or fail
idiom
ride at anchor
- to be anchored
idiom
weigh anchor
- to hoist a ship's anchor off the bottom preparatory to sailing
- to leave; go away
idiom
Idioms and Phrasal Verbs
Origin of anchor
- Middle English anker, ancher from Old English ancor from Latin ancora, anchora from Greek ankura
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
- Middle English anker, Old English ancor, from Latin ancora, from (cognate with) Ancient Greek ἄγκυρα (ankura), from Proto-Indo-European *ang- (“corner, hirn”). The modern spelling is a sixteenth-century modification to better represent the Latin misspelling anchora.
From Wiktionary