anchor

I. 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 • anchorless adjective II. verb (anchored; anchoring) Date: 13th century transitive verb 1. to hold in place in the water by an anchor <

anchor a ship

> 2. to secure firmly ; fix <

anchor a post in concrete

> 3. to act or serve as an anchor for <

it is she who is anchoring the rebuilding campaign — G. D. Boone

> <

anchoring the evening news

> intransitive verb 1. to cast anchor 2. to become fixed