sheet anchor
noun
Nautical. a large anchor used only in cases of emergency.
a final reliance or resource, as when in danger.
Origin of sheet anchor
First recorded in 1485–95
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Related Words for sheet anchor
buffer, insurance, precaution, protection, safeguard, subsidy, benefits, parachute, anchor, bower, drogueExamples from the Web for sheet anchor
Historical Examples of sheet anchor
He clung to all three, he grappled them to him; they were his sheet-anchor and his pole-star.
The ScapegoatHall Caine
We should be in a sweet quandary if anything happened to our sheet-anchor here.
Shawl-StrapsLouisa M. Alcott
The belief which had been her sheet-anchor in hoping for forgiveness had proved false.
A Pair of Blue EyesThomas Hardy
To those who had been with him before he was like a sheet-anchor in a storm.
Charles Frohman: Manager and ManIsaac Frederick Marcosson and Daniel Frohman
His Irish experience continued to be the sheet-anchor of his ascendency with the Queen.
Sir Walter RaleghWilliam Stebbing
sheet anchor
noun
Word Origin for sheet anchor
C17: from earlier shute anker, from shoot (obsolete) the sheet of a sail
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
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