sheet anchor
Americannoun
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Nautical. a large anchor used only in cases of emergency.
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a final reliance or resource, as when in danger.
noun
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nautical a large strong anchor for use in emergency
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a person or thing to be relied upon in an emergency
Etymology
Origin of sheet anchor
First recorded in 1485–95
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Yet, Jane — Tomalin calls her “the true heroine of this story” — remained the sheet anchor of his life, as well as his typist.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 2, 2021
In summer he manages his two dairy farms, calls them "a sheet anchor against inflation."
From Time Magazine Archive
"There's no way it can be done except by setting the sheet anchor thirty or forty fathoms toward the mouth of the harbor and working down to it by sheer expenditure of muscle."
From A Runaway Brig; or, An Accidental Cruise by James Otis
As soon as the best bower cable was nearly out, the sheet anchor and small bower were let go at the same moment, and the result was to be ascertained.
From Percival Keene by Frederick Marryat
I would first furl all and run under the storm forestay sail, unfid the topmasts going in, and have a long range of both bower cables on deck, and the sheet anchor ready.
From A Sailor of King George by A. Beckford Bevan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
