DICT.TW Dictionary Taiwan

 An·chor n.
 1. A iron instrument which is attached to a ship by a cable (rope or chain), and which, being cast overboard, lays hold of the earth by a fluke or hook and thus retains the ship in a particular station.
 Note: ☞ The common anchor consists of a straight bar called a shank, having at one end a transverse bar called a stock, above which is a ring for the cable, and at the other end the crown, from which branch out two or more arms with flukes, forming with the shank a suitable angle to enter the ground.
 Note: Formerly the largest and strongest anchor was the sheet anchor (hence, Fig., best hope or last refuge), called also waist anchor. Now the bower and the sheet anchor are usually alike. Then came the best bower and the small bower (so called from being carried on the bows). The stream anchor is one fourth the weight of the bower anchor. Kedges or kedge anchors are light anchors used in warping.
 2. Any instrument or contrivance serving a purpose like that of a ship's anchor, as an arrangement of timber to hold a dam fast; a contrivance to hold the end of a bridge cable, or other similar part; a contrivance used by founders to hold the core of a mold in place.
 3. Fig.: That which gives stability or security; that on which we place dependence for safety.
    Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul.   --Heb. vi. 19.
 4. Her. An emblem of hope.
 5. Arch. (a) A metal tie holding adjoining parts of a building together. (b) Carved work, somewhat resembling an anchor or arrowhead; -- a part of the ornaments of certain moldings.  It is seen in the echinus, or egg-and-anchor (called also egg-and-dart, egg-and-tongue) ornament.
 6. Zool. One of the anchor-shaped spicules of certain sponges; also, one of the calcareous spinules of certain Holothurians, as in species of Synapta.
 6. Television an achorman, anchorwoman, or anchorperson.
 Anchor ice. See under Ice. --Anchor light See the vocabulary.
 Anchor ring. Math. Same as Annulus, 2 (b).
 Anchor shot See the vocabulary.
 Anchor space See the vocabulary.
 Anchor stock Naut., the crossbar at the top of the shank at right angles to the arms.
 Anchor watch See the vocabulary.
 The anchor comes home, when it drags over the bottom as the ship drifts.
 Foul anchor, the anchor when it hooks, or is entangled with, another anchor, or with a cable or wreck, or when the slack cable is entangled.
 The anchor is acockbill, when it is suspended perpendicularly from the cathead, ready to be let go.
 The anchor is apeak, when the cable is drawn in so tight as to bring the ship directly over it.
 The anchor is atrip, or aweigh, when it is lifted out of the ground.
 The anchor is awash, when it is hove up to the surface of the water.
 At anchor, anchored.
 To back an anchor, to increase the holding power by laying down a small anchor ahead of that by which the ship rides, with the cable fastened to the crown of the latter to prevent its coming home.
 To cast anchor, to drop or let go an anchor to keep a ship at rest.
 To cat the anchor, to hoist the anchor to the cathead and pass the ring-stopper.
 To fish the anchor, to hoist the flukes to their resting place (called the bill-boards), and pass the shank painter.
 To weigh anchor, to heave or raise the anchor so as to sail away.

 Foul a. [Compar. Fouler superl. Foulest.]
 1. Covered with, or containing, extraneous matter which is injurious, noxious, offensive, or obstructive; filthy; dirty; not clean; polluted; nasty; defiled; as, a foul cloth; foul hands; a foul chimney; foul air; a ship's bottom is foul when overgrown with barnacles; a gun becomes foul from repeated firing; a well is foul with polluted water.
    My face is foul with weeping.   --Job. xvi. 16.
 2. Scurrilous; obscene or profane; abusive; as, foul words; foul language.
 3. Hateful; detestable; shameful; odious; wretched. “The foul with Sycorax.”
    Who first seduced them to that foul revolt?   --Milton.
 4. Loathsome; disgusting; as, a foul disease.
 5. Ugly; homely; poor. [Obs.]
    Let us, like merchants, show our foulest wares.   --Shak.
 6. Not favorable; unpropitious; not fair or advantageous; as, a foul wind; a foul road; cloudy or rainy; stormy; not fair; -- said of the weather, sky, etc.
    So foul a sky clears not without a storm.   --Shak.
 7. Not conformed to the established rules and customs of a game, conflict, test, etc.; unfair; dishonest; dishonorable; cheating; as, foul play.
 8. Having freedom of motion interfered with by collision or entanglement; entangled; -- opposed to clear; as, a rope or cable may get foul while paying it out.
 Foul anchor. Naut. See under Anchor.
 Foul ball Baseball, a ball that first strikes the ground outside of the foul ball lines, or rolls outside of certain limits.
 Foul ball lines Baseball, lines from the home base, through the first and third bases, to the boundary of the field.
 Foul berth Naut., a berth in which a ship is in danger of fouling another vesel.
 Foul bill, or Foul bill of health, a certificate, duly authenticated, that a ship has come from a place where a contagious disorder prevails, or that some of the crew are infected.
 Foul copy, a rough draught, with erasures and corrections; -- opposed to fair or clean copy. “Some writers boast of negligence, and others would be ashamed to show their foul copies.” --Cowper.
 Foul proof, an uncorrected proof; a proof containing an excessive quantity of errors.
 Foul strike Baseball, a strike by the batsman when any part of his person is outside of the lines of his position.
 To fall foul, to fall out; to quarrel. [Obs.] “If they be any ways offended, they fall foul.” --Burton.
 To fall foul of or To run foul of. See under Fall.
 To make foul water, to sail in such shallow water that the ship's keel stirs the mud at the bottom.