ANCHOR

Anchor

An anchor is a device normally made of metal, that is used to connect a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the craft from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ancora, which itself comes from the Greek ἄγκυρα .

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anchor

Noun

  1. 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. 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).
  2. 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. A marked point in a document that can be the target of a hyperlink.
  5. An anchorman or anchorwoman.
  6. The final runner in a relay race.
  7. A superstore or other facility that serves as a focus to bring customers into an area.
  8. That which gives stability or security.
  9. A metal tie holding adjoining parts of a building together.
  10. 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.

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.
  4. To provide emotional stability for a person in distress.
  5. To perform as an anchorman.


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: anchor
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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