☞ The common anchor consists of a straight bar called a shank, having at one end a transverse bar called a stock, above which is a ring for the cable, and at the other end the crown, from which branch out two or more arms with flukes, forming with the shank a suitable angle to enter the ground. [ 1913 Webster ]

Formerly the largest and strongest anchor was the sheet anchor (hence, Fig., best hope or last refuge), called also waist anchor. Now the bower and the sheet anchor are usually alike. Then came the best bower and the small bower (so called from being carried on the bows). The stream anchor is one fourth the weight of the bower anchor. Kedges or kedge anchors are light anchors used in warping. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Fig.: That which gives stability or security; that on which we place dependence for safety. [ 1913 Webster ]

Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul. Heb. vi. 19. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Her.) An emblem of hope. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Arch.) (a) A metal tie holding adjoining parts of a building together. (b) 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Zool.) One of the anchor-shaped spicules of certain sponges; also, one of the calcareous spinules of certain Holothurians, as in species of Synapta. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Television) an achorman, anchorwoman, or anchorperson. [ 1913 Webster ]

Anchor ice. See under Ice. --
Anchor light See the vocabulary. --
Anchor ring. (Math.) Same as Annulus, 2 (b). --
Anchor shot See the vocabulary. --
Anchor space See the vocabulary. --
Anchor stock (Naut.), the crossbar at the top of the shank at right angles to the arms. --
Anchor watch See the vocabulary. --
The anchor comes home, when it drags over the bottom as the ship drifts. --
Foul anchor, the anchor when it hooks, or is entangled with, another anchor, or with a cable or wreck, or when the slack cable is entangled. --
The anchor is acockbill, when it is suspended perpendicularly from the cathead, ready to be let go. --
The anchor is apeak, when the cable is drawn in so tight as to bring the ship directly over it. --
The anchor is atrip, or
aweigh, when it is lifted out of the ground. --
The anchor is awash, when it is hove up to the surface of the water. --
At anchor, anchored. --
To back an anchor, to increase the holding power by laying down a small anchor ahead of that by which the ship rides, with the cable fastened to the crown of the latter to prevent its coming home. --
To cast anchor, to drop or let go an anchor to keep a ship at rest. --
To cat the anchor, to hoist the anchor to the cathead and pass the ring-stopper. --
To fish the anchor, to hoist the flukes to their resting place (called the bill-boards), and pass the shank painter. --
To weigh anchor, to heave or raise the anchor so as to sail away. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To stop; to fix or rest. [ 1913 Webster ]

My invention . . . anchors on Isabel. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To fix or fasten; to fix in a stable condition; as, to anchor the cables of a suspension bridge. [ 1913 Webster ]

Till that my nails were anchored in thine eyes. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A place suitable for anchoring or where ships anchor; a hold for an anchor. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The set of anchors belonging to a ship. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Something which holds like an anchor; a hold; as, the anchorages of the Brooklyn Bridge. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Something on which one may depend for security; ground of trust. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. A toll for anchoring; anchorage duties. Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Her.) Having the extremities turned back, like the flukes of an anchor; as, an anchored cross. [ Sometimes spelt ancred. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

And there, a saintly anchoress, she dwelt. Wordsworth. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Hence: Firm hold: security. [ 1913 Webster ]

Choragic monument, a building or column built by a victorious choragus for the reception and exhibition of the tripod which he received as a prize. Those of Lysicrates and Thrasyllus are still to be seen at Athens. [ 1913 Webster ]

Choral service, a service of song. [ 1913 Webster ]

When Jubal struck the chorded shell. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

Even the solitary old pine tree chords his harp. Beecher. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Mus.) A combination of tones simultaneously performed, producing more or less perfect harmony, as, the common chord. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Geom.) A right line uniting the extremities of the arc of a circle or curve. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Anat.) A cord. See Cord, n., 4. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Engin.) The upper or lower part of a truss, usually horizontal, resisting compression or tension. Waddell. [ 1913 Webster ]

Accidental, Common, and Vocal
chords. See under Accidental, Common, and Vocal. --
Chord of an arch. See Illust. of Arch. --
Chord of curvature, a chord drawn from any point of a curve, in the circle of curvature for that point. --
Scale of chords. See Scale. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖Chorda dorsalis [ NL., lit., cord of the back. ] (Anat.) See Notochord. [ 1913 Webster ]