sheet anchor

noun

1. Nautical. a large anchor used only in cases of emergency.
2. a final reliance or resource, as when in danger.

sheet anchor

noun

1. nautical a large strong anchor for use in emergency
2. a person or thing to be relied upon in an emergency

Word History and Origins

Origin of sheet anchor¹

First recorded in 1485–95

Word History and Origins

Origin of sheet anchor¹

C17: from earlier shute anker, from shoot (obsolete) the sheet of a sail

Example Sentences

Yet, Jane — Tomalin calls her “the true heroine of this story” — remained the sheet anchor of his life, as well as his typist.

From Washington Post

But to Abraham Lincoln, these principles were “the sheet anchor of American republicanism.”

From Salon

Even Angela Merkel of Germany, that placid sheet anchor of European stability, faces grassroots challenges from left and right.

From The Guardian

But in 1854, an English writer named John Mills channeled a particularly articulate horse named Sheet Anchor, in a book called “The Life of a Racehorse.”

From New York Times

“Like the hare, the impulse of our nature is to flee from that which terrifies us,” Sheet Anchor muses at one point.

From New York Times