Main Entry: ¹an·chor

Pronunciation: \ˈaŋ-kər\

Function: noun

Usage: often attributive

Etymology: Middle English ancre, from Old English ancor, from Latin anchora, from Greek ankyra; akin to Old English anga hook — more at angle

Date: before 12th century

1 : a device usually of metal attached to a ship or boat by a cable and cast overboard to hold it in a particular place by means of a fluke that digs into the bottom
2 : a reliable or principal support : mainstay
3 : something that serves to hold an object firmly
4 : an object shaped like a ship's anchor
5 : an anchorman or anchorwoman
6 : the member of a team (as a relay team) that competes last
7 : a large business (as a department store) that attracts customers and other businesses to a shopping center or mall
8 : a fixed object (as a tree or a piton) to which a climber's rope is secured

— an·chor·less \-ləs\ adjective

— at anchor : being anchored

[anchor illustration]