anchor, device cast overboard to secure a ship, boat, or other floating object by means of weight, friction, or hooks called flukes. In ancient times an anchor was often merely a large stone, a bag or basket of stones, a bag of sand, or, as with the Egyptians, a lead-weighted log. The Greeks are credited with the first use of iron anchors, while the Romans had metal devices with arms similar to modern anchors. The ordinary modern anchor consists of a shank (the stem, at the top of which is the anchor ring), a stock (the crosspiece at the top of the shank, either fixed or removable), a crown (the bottom portion), and arms, attached near the base of the shank at a right angle to the stock and curving upward to end in flat, triangular flukes. Other types of anchors include the patent anchor, which has either no stock at all or a stock lying in the same plane as the arms; the stream, or stern anchor, lighter than the regular anchor and used in narrow or congested waters where there is no room for the vessel to swing with the tide; and the grapnel, a small four-armed anchor used to recover lost objects. A sea anchor is a wooden or metal framework covered with canvas and weighted at the bottom; it is a temporary device used by disabled ships. Modern ships have several anchors; usually there are two forward and two aft. Formerly made of wrought iron, anchors are now usually made of forged steel.

anchor

(1) See anchor tag.

(2) In desktop publishing, a format code that keeps a graphic near or next to a text paragraph. If text is added, causing the paragraph to move to a subsequent page, the graphic image is moved along with the anchor.

(3) In a GUI builder (development environment for creating a user interface), a format code that keeps a button, message or other interface control aligned to some part of the window. When the window is expanded, the corners of the control that are not anchored move with the window borders, but not the anchored corner. See user interface control.

anchor

1. any of several devices, usually of steel, attached to a vessel by a cable and dropped overboard so as to grip the bottom and restrict the vessel's movement

a. the rear person in a tug-of-war team

b. short for anchorman, anchorwoman

3. at anchor (of a vessel) anchored

4. cast, come to, or drop anchor to anchor a vessel

5. drag anchor See drag

6. ride at anchor to be anchored

7. weigh anchor to raise a vessel's anchor or (of a vessel) to have its anchor raised in preparation for departure

anchor [′aŋ·kər]

(civil engineering)

A device connecting a structure to a heavy masonry or concrete object to a metal plate or to the ground to hold the structure in place.

(computer science)

A tag that indicates either the source or destination of a hyperlink; for example, HTML anchors are used to create links within a document or to another document.

(engineering)

A device, such as a metal rod, wire,or strap, for fixing one object to another, such as specially formed metal connectors used to fasten together timbers, masonry, or trusses.

(invertebrate zoology)

An anchor-shaped spicule in the integument of sea cucumbers.

An anchor-shaped ossicle in echinoderms.

(mechanical engineering)

In steam plowing, a vehicle located on the side of the field opposite that of the engine and maintaining the tension on the endless wire by means of a pulley.

A device for a piping system that maintains the correct position and direction of the pipes and controls pipe movement occurring as a result of thermal expansion.

(metallurgy)

A device that prevents the movement of sand cores in molds.

(naval architecture)

A device attached by cable to a ship and dropped overboard so that its hooks or flukes engage the bottom and hold the ship at that location.

anchor

emblem of optimism; steadfastly secured the soul in adversity. [N.T.: Hebrews, 6:18–19]

See : Hope

anchor (redirected from dropped anchor)

anchor

anchor
(redirected from dropped anchor)