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, 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, 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.

References
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