anchor.
A tool used to moor a vessel to the bottom of a sea or river to resist movement.
Meaning & usage
A tool used to moor a vessel to the bottom of a sea or river to resist movement.
An iron device so shaped as to grip the bottom and hold a vessel at her berth by the chain or rope attached.
The combined anchoring gear (anchor, rode, bill/peak and fittings such as bitts, cat, and windlass.)
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.
A marked point in a document that can be the target of a hyperlink.
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.
An anchorman or anchorwoman.
The final runner in a relay race.
A point that is touched by the draw hand or string when the bow is fully drawn and ready to shoot.
A superstore or other facility that serves as a focus to bring customers into an area.
That which gives stability or security.
A metal tie holding adjoining parts of a building together.
A screw anchor.
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.
The thirty-fifth Lenormand card.
The brake of a vehicle.
A defensive player, especially one who counters the opposition's best offensive player.
A batter who remains in for a long time.
A device for attaching a climber at the top of a climb, such as a chain or ring or a natural feature.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂enk-der.? Pre-Greekbor.? Ancient Greek ᾰ̓́γκῡρᾰ (ắnkūră)bor.? Latin ancorabor. Proto-Germanic *ankurô Proto-West Germanic *ankurō Old English ancor Middle English anker English anchor 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.
To connect an object, especially a ship or a boat, to a fixed point.
To cast anchor; to come to anchor.
Our ship (or the captain) anchored in the stream.
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.
Where this word comes from
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.
An anchorite or anchoress.
Where this word comes from
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 of anker.
Where this word comes from
Alternative form.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.