sheet anchor

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR sheet anchor ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

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

a final reliance or resource, as when in danger.

Content related to sheet anchor

What does ⚓️ - Anchor Emoji mean?Read more in this article about some frequently asked questions and fun facts related to our definitions.

Words related to sheet anchor

buffer, insurance, precaution, protection, safeguard, subsidy, benefits, parachute, anchor, bower, drogue

Words nearby sheet anchor

sheerlegs, sheerness, sheers, sheesh, sheet, sheet anchor, sheet bend, sheet down, sheet erosion, sheet feeder, sheet film

Origin of sheet anchor

First recorded in 1485–95

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for sheet anchor

Poetry, History, Science, are the three strands of the cable by which the vessel shall ride—Religion being the sheet-anchor.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 68, No 420, October 1850|Various
Quinine, however, which is the sheet-anchor (so to speak) of African travellers, saved her.
Some Heroes of Travel|W. H. Davenport Adams
We have trusted to it as to the sheet-anchor of our safety, in the stormy times of conflict with a foreign or domestic foe.
Key-Notes of American Liberty|Various
He clung to all three, he grappled them to him; they were his sheet-anchor and his pole-star.
The Scapegoat|Hall Caine

We lost one man from the starboard forechains, by his getting caught in the buoy-rope, as we let go a sheet-anchor.
Ned Myers|James Fenimore Cooper

British Dictionary definitions for sheet anchor

sheet anchor

noun

nautical a large strong anchor for use in emergency

a person or thing to be relied upon in an emergency

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 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012