sheet anchor

American  

noun

1. Nautical. a large anchor used only in cases of emergency.

2. a final reliance or resource, as when in danger.

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sheet anchor British  

noun

1. nautical a large strong anchor for use in emergency

2. a person or thing to be relied upon in an emergency

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Etymology

Origin of sheet anchor

First recorded in 1485–95

Example Sentences

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

It blew very hard from the west so that we had to lower the topmasts and let drop the sheet anchor.

From Journal of Jasper Danckaerts, 1679-1680 by James, Bartlett Burleigh

Gwen's one sheet anchor of hope, to which she clung in a kind of desperation, was the thought of the postal orders that Grannie and Aunt Violet almost invariably sent at Christmas.

From The Youngest Girl in the Fifth A School Story by Davis, Stanley

Geoffrey Hamlyn was my sheet anchor, but did not seem to be supported by the scraps of prosaic history obtainable; we could not verify those charming homes and social customs.

From Thirty Years in Australia by Cambridge, Ada