sea anchor

See synonyms for sea anchor on Thesaurus.com
nounNautical.
  1. any of various devices, as a drogue, that have great resistance to being pulled through the water and are dropped forward of a vessel at the end of a cable to hold the bow into the wind or sea during a storm.

Origin of sea anchor

1
First recorded in 1760–70

Words Nearby sea anchor

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use sea anchor in a sentence

  • He knew that if they did get free from the schooner only an efficient sea-anchor or drag would keep the yawl right side up.

    Blow The Man Down | Holman Day
  • Over and around she went, with a tire blown and the lower rail of the big gate hanging onto the fender like a dry-land sea-anchor.

    Highways in Hiding | George Oliver Smith
  • At daylight we found our sea-anchor and the rudder had both gone.

    The Fleets Behind the Fleet | W. MacNeile (William MacNeile) Dixon
  • The sea anchor which Russ had rigged provided the necessary drag and steerage way, and the boat's head was kept to the waves.

  • Here the sea was calm, save for a heavy but smooth ground-swell, and I took in the sea-anchor and began to row.

    The Sea-Wolf | Jack London

British Dictionary definitions for sea anchor

sea anchor

noun
  1. nautical any device, such as a bucket or canvas funnel, dragged in the water to keep a vessel heading into the wind or reduce drifting

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012