anchorhold

English

Etymology

From anchor +‎ hold.

Noun

anchorhold (countable and uncountable, plural anchorholds)

1. The residence of an anchorite or anchoress.
   • 1893, Emily Sarah Holt, “Chapter Five. Warned”, in One Snowy Night‎^[1], Reprint edition (Historical Fiction), 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 something to which it holds.
   • 1763, John Harris, Navigantium Atque Itinerantium Bibliotheca:

     The Port is very commodious, being one of the largeſt in all theſe Seas , and there is very good Anchorhold all over the Bay

   • 1910, Captain Walter Biggs, Drake's Great Armada‎^[2], Reprint edition, Project Gutenberg, published 2006:

     […] a great tempest arose, which caused many of our ships to drive from their anchorhold, […]

3. (figurative) Firm hold; security.

Related terms

• anchoress
• anchorite
• anchoritess

References

• “anchor-hold”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.