Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- n. Nautical A heavy object attached to a vessel by a cable or rope and cast overboard to keep the vessel in place either by its weight or by its flukes, which grip the bottom.
- n. A rigid point of support, as for securing a rope.
- n. A source of security or stability.
- n. Sports An athlete, usually the strongest member of a team, who performs the last stage of a relay race or other competition.
- n. Sports The person at the end of a tug-of-war team.
- n. An anchorperson.
- transitive v. To hold fast by or as if by an anchor. See Synonyms at fasten.
- transitive v. Sports To serve as an anchor for (a team or competition).
- transitive v. To narrate or coordinate (a newscast).
- transitive v. To provide or form an anchor store for: Two major stores anchor each end of the shopping mall.
- intransitive v. Nautical To drop anchor or lie at anchor.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- n. A tool used to moor a vessel to the bottom of a sea or river to resist movement.
- n. Generic term to refer to the combined anchoring gear (anchor, rode, and fittings such as bitts, cat, and windlass.)
- n. A fixed point, especially materials or tools used to affix something at that point.
- n. A marked point in a document that can be the target of a hyperlink.
- n. An anchorman or anchorwoman.
- n. The final runner in a relay race.
- v. To hold an object, especially a ship or a boat to a fixed point.
- v. To provide emotional stability for a person in distress.
- v. To perform as an anchorman.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- n. 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.
- n. 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.
- n. Fig.: That which gives stability or security; that on which we place dependence for safety.
- n. An emblem of hope.
- n.
- n. A metal tie holding adjoining parts of a building together.
- n. Carved work, somewhat resembling an anchor or arrowhead; -- a part of the ornaments of certain moldings. It is seen in the echinus, or egg-and-anchor (called also egg-and-dart, egg-and-tongue) ornament.
- n. One of the anchor-shaped spicules of certain sponges; also, one of the calcareous spinules of certain Holothurians, as in species of Synapta.
- n. an achorman, anchorwoman, or anchorperson.
- n. An anchoret.
- intransitive v. To cast anchor; to come to anchor.
- intransitive v. To stop; to fix or rest.
- transitive v. To place at anchor; to secure by an anchor.
- transitive v. To fix or fasten; to fix in a stable condition.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To fix or secure in a particular place by means of an anchor; place at anchor: as, to anchor a ship.
- Figuratively, to fix or fasten; affix firmly.
- To cast anchor; come to anchor; lie or ride at anchor: as, the ship anchored outside the bar.
- Figuratively, to keep hold or be firmly fixed in any way.
- n. A device for securing a vessel to the ground under water by means of a cable.
- n. Any similar device for holding fast or checking the motion of a movable object.
- n. Specifically — The apparatus at the opposite end of the field from the engine of a steam-plow, to which pulleys are fixed, round which the endless band or rope that moves the plow passes.
- n. The device by which the extremities of the chains or wire ropes of a suspension-bridge are secured. See anchorage.
- n. Figuratively, that which gives stability or security; that on which dependence is placed.
- n. In architecture: A name for the arrow-head or tongue ornament used especially in the so-called egg-and-dart molding.
- n. A metallic clamp, sometimes of fanciful design, fastened on the outside of a wall to the end of a tie-rod or strap connecting it with an opposite wall to prevent bulging.
- n. In zoology: Some appendage or arrangement of parts by which a parasite fastens itself upon its host.
- n. Something shaped like an anchor; an ancora. See ancora.
- n. An iron plate placed in the back part of a coke-oven before it is charged with coal. See anchor-oven.
- n. An anchoret; a hermit.
- n. Erroneous spelling of anker.
- n. In the tug of war, the man at the end of the line, who is supposed to hold while the rest endeavor to pull.
- n. Same as chapelet, 4.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- n. a central cohesive source of support and stability
- n. a television reporter who coordinates a broadcast to which several correspondents contribute
- v. fix firmly and stably
- v. secure a vessel with an anchor
- n. a mechanical device that prevents a vessel from moving
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Examples
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KAHN: Fatima�Renteria says she's never heard the term anchor baby before.
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Maybe the term anchor would be better applied to the right-wingers who stay angry all the time and keep us stuck in the squalid port of stagnation and division, rather than allowing us to move out to the bright and sunny wide open sea of progress and care for others.
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With the setting "At Top of Structure", the label anchor point will be at the top of the structure.
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WF: I won't ever release an album without completing what I call an "anchor song;" a song which encompasses the broad story the overall record is meaning to tell and, without which, the record would not make functional and fluid sense.
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Clinton even pointed out what he called the anchor's clever smirk.
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It only now occurred to Wallingford that Mary herself might be interested in what she called the anchor chair.
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Attached diagonally to a corner of each rectangle, and weighting it like an anchor, is a softly stepped cast-bronze form suggesting stone or relic, but also swinging pendulum and parasite.
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I dont know who the women news anchor is but I really dont think she is too old for Twilight!
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My anchor is actually remembering eating nachos, and I trigger it by eating nachos.
More of the crap that’s in my head. But no nachos today. | Johnny B. Truant
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An anchor is what you give the high-profile white guys, you know. ...
minouchette commented on the word anchor
a bankroll
October 8, 2010
reesetee commented on the word anchor
:-(
July 19, 2009
dontcry commented on the word anchor
*sniff*
July 18, 2009
chained_bear commented on the word anchor
R.I.P.
July 18, 2009
john commented on the word anchor
“In 1952, the first presidential year in which television outshined radio, Mr. Cronkite was chosen to lead the coverage of the Democratic and Republican national conventions. By Mr. Cronkite’s account, it was then that the term “anchor�? was first used — by Sig Mickelson, the first director of television news for CBS, who had likened the chief announcer’s job to an anchor that holds a boat in place. Paul Levitan, another CBS executive, and Don Hewitt, then a young producer, have also been credited with the phrase.�?
The New York Times, Walter Cronkite, Voice of TV News, Dies, by Douglas Martin, July 17, 2009
July 18, 2009