Anchor v.

also 3–7 ancre, -ker, 7 -kor. [? a. Fr. ancre-r, f. ancre; cf. med.L. ancorāre. (There may have been an OE. ancri-an, unrecorded.)]

  1.  trans. To secure (the ship) with an anchor; to place at, or bring to, anchor.

c. 1230.  Ancr. R., 142. For þi is ancre … under chirche iancred.

1489.  Caxton, Faytes of Armes, I. xvii. 49. They must be ancred within the watre that they may be stedfast.

1513.  Douglas, Æneis, VII. iii. 8. At the schore … Thare nauy can thay anker fast and hank.

1813.  Southey, Nelson, ix. 348. It was not possible to anchor the fleet.

1851.  Sir F. Palgrave, Eng. & Norm., I. 517 (L.). He there anchored his bark.

  2.  intr. To cast anchor, to come to anchor. (Said either of the crew or the ship.)

1578.  T. N., trans. Conq. W. India, 37. Cortez … anckred at the rivers mouth.

1667.  Milton, P. L., II. 289. Sea-faring men … whose Bark by chance Or Pinnace anchors in a craggy Bay.

1718.  Lady M. Montague, Lett., II. xlix. 52. We anchored in the Hellespont.

1873.  Southey, Nelson, v. 147. The Vanguard was the first that anchored.

  3.  fig. trans. To fix as with an anchor, to fix firmly or abidingly.

1594.  Shaks., Rich. III., IV. iv. 231. Till that my Nayles were anchor’d in thine eyes.

1663.  Gerbier, Counsel, 44. The doore-cases, well ankered into the wall.

1855.  Owen, Comp. Anat. Invertebr. (ed. 2), xiii. 275 (L.). The feet of the third pair lengthen and unite together to form a cartilaginous circular sucker, and permanently anchor the parasite to its prey.

1860.  Tyndall, Glac., I. § 22. 157. My first care was to anchor it [ice-axe] firmly in the snow.

  4.  fig. refl. and intr. To fix oneself, one’s attention, thought; take up a position.

1581.  Sidney, Astroph. (1591) (T.).

1603.  Shaks., Meas. for M., II. iv. 4. Whilst my Inuention, hearing not my Tongue, Anchors on Isabell.

1797.  Godwin, Enquirer, II. v. 238. He … advances … up the province upon which he anchors.