ANCHOR

I. noun Usage: often attributive see: angle Date: before 12th century 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, a reliable or principal support ; mainstay , something that serves to hold an object firmly, an object shaped like a ship's ~, an ~man or ~woman, the member of a team (as a relay team) that competes last, a large business (as a department store) that attracts customers and other businesses to a shopping center or mall, a fixed object (as a tree or a piton) to which a climber's rope is secured, ~less adjective II. verb (~ed; ~ing) Date: 13th century transitive verb to hold in place in the water by an ~ , to secure firmly ; fix , to act or serve as an ~ for , intransitive verb to cast ~, to become fixed