anchorhold

English

Etymology

From anchor +‎ hold.

Noun

anchorhold (plural anchorholds)

  1. The residence of an anchorite or anchoress.
    • 1893, Emily Sarah Holt, “Chapter Five. Warned”, in One Snowy Night‎ (Historical Fiction), Reprint edition, Project Gutenberg, published 2009:
      Every anchorhold was built close to a church, so as to allow its occupant the privilege of seeing the performance of mass, and of receiving the consecrated wafer, […]
  2. The hold or grip of an anchor, or that to which it holds.
    • 1910, Captain Walter Biggs, Drake's Great Armada‎, Reprint edition, Project Gutenberg, published 2006:
      […] a great tempest arose, which caused many of our ships to drive from their anchorhold, […]
  3. (figuratively) Firm hold; security.

References

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for anchorhold under anchor-hold in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913)

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