Anchor vs. Sail — What's the Difference?

An anchor is a device, normally made of metal, used to secure a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the craft from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ancora, which itself comes from the Greek ἄγκυρα (ankȳra).Anchors can either be temporary or permanent.

A sail is a tensile structure—made from fabric or other membrane materials—that uses wind power to propel sailing craft, including sailing ships, sailboats, windsurfers, ice boats, and even sail-powered land vehicles. Sails may be made from a combination of woven materials—including canvas or polyester cloth, laminated membranes or bonded filaments—usually in a three- or four-sided shape.

A heavy object attached to a cable or chain and used to moor a ship to the sea bottom, typically having a metal shank with a pair of curved, barbed flukes at one end

A piece of material extended on a mast to catch the wind and propel a boat or ship or other vessel

An anchorman or anchorwoman

A wind-catching apparatus attached to the arm of a windmill.

Moor (a ship) to the sea bottom with an anchor

A voyage or excursion in a ship, especially a sailing ship or boat

Present and coordinate (a television or radio programme)

The conning tower of a submarine.

(Nautical) A heavy object attached to a vessel by a cable, rope, or chain and dropped into the water to keep the vessel in place either by its weight or by its flukes, which grip the bottom.

A canvas sheet or tarpaulin

A rigid point of support, as for securing a rope.

Travel in a boat with sails, especially as a sport or recreation

A source of security or stability.

Move smoothly and rapidly or in a stately or confident manner

An athlete, usually the strongest member of a team, who performs the last stage of a relay race or other competition.

A piece of fabric sewn together and fitted to the spars and rigging of a vessel so as to convert the force of the wind into forward motion of the vessel.

The person at the end of a tug-of-war team.

The sails of a ship or boat.

An anchorperson.

A narrow fairwater supporting the bridge of a submarine.

To secure (a vessel) with an anchor.

Pl. sail or sails Nautical A sailing vessel.

To secure with a fastener or similar device

(Nautical) A trip or voyage in a sailing craft.

To cause to be fixed in place; fix or immobilize

Something, such as the blade of a windmill, that resembles a sail in form or function.

To cause to feel attached or secure

To move across the surface of water, especially by means of a sailing vessel.

To provide a basis for; establish or found

To travel by water in a vessel.

(Sports) To serve as an anchor for (a team or competition)

To start out on such a voyage or journey

To narrate or coordinate (a newscast).

To operate a sailing craft, especially for sport.

To provide or form an anchor store for

To move along or progress smoothly or effortlessly

(Nautical) To drop anchor or lie at anchor.

To move along through the air

(nautical) A tool used to moor a vessel to the bottom of a sea or river to resist movement.

To navigate or manage (a vessel).

(nautical) An iron device so shaped as to grip the bottom and hold a vessel at her berth by the chain or rope attached. (FM 55-501).

To voyage upon or across

(nautical) The combined anchoring gear (anchor, rode, bill/peak and fittings such as bitts, cat, and windlass.)

(nautical) A piece of fabric attached to a boat and arranged such that it causes the wind to drive the boat along. The sail may be attached to the boat via a combination of mast, spars and ropes.

(heraldry) Representation of the nautical tool, used as a heraldic charge.

The concept of a sail or sails, as if a substance.

Any instrument serving a purpose like that of a ship's anchor, such as an arrangement of timber to hold a dam fast; a device to hold the end of a bridge cable etc.; or a device used in metalworking to hold the core of a mould in place.

(uncountable) The power harnessed by a sail or sails, or the use of this power for travel or transport.

(Internet) A marked point in a document that can be the target of a hyperlink.

A trip in a boat, especially a sailboat.

(television) An anchorman or anchorwoman.

A sailing vessel; a vessel of any kind; a craft.

(athletics) The final runner in a relay race.

(nautical) The conning tower of a submarine.

(archery) A point that is touched by the draw hand or string when the bow is fully drawn and ready to shoot.

The blade of a windmill.

(economics) A superstore or other facility that serves as a focus to bring customers into an area.

A tower-like structure found on the dorsal (topside) surface of submarines.

(figurative) That which gives stability or security.

The floating organ of siphonophores, such as the Portuguese man-of-war.

(architecture) A metal tie holding adjoining parts of a building together.

(fishing) A sailfish.

(US) A screw anchor.

(paleontology) an outward projection of the spine, occurring in certain dinosaurs and synapsids

(architecture) Carved work, somewhat resembling an anchor or arrowhead; part of the ornaments of certain mouldings. It is seen in the echinus, or egg-and-anchor (called also egg-and-dart, egg-and-tongue) ornament.

Anything resembling a sail, such as a wing.

One of the anchor-shaped spicules of certain sponges.

To be impelled or driven forward by the action of wind upon sails, as a ship on water; to be impelled on a body of water by steam or other power.

One of the calcareous spinules of certain holothurians, as in species of Synapta.

To move through or on the water; to swim, as a fish or a waterfowl.

(cartomancy) The thirty-fifth Lenormand card.

To ride in a boat, especially a sailboat.

(obsolete) An anchorite or anchoress.

(intransitive) To set sail; to begin a voyage.

(slang) The brake of a vehicle.

To move briskly and gracefully through the air.

(soccer) A defensive player, especially one who counters the opposition's best offensive player.

(intransitive) To move briskly but sedately.

(climbing) A device for attaching a climber at the top of a climb, such as a chain or ring or a natural feature.

To deal out (cards) from a distance by impelling them across a surface.

Alternative form of anker

An extent of canvas or other fabric by means of which the wind is made serviceable as a power for propelling vessels through the water.

To connect an object, especially a ship or a boat, to a fixed point.

Anything resembling a sail, or regarded as a sail.

To cast anchor; to come to anchor.

A wing; a van.

To stop; to fix or rest.

The extended surface of the arm of a windmill.

To provide emotional stability for a person in distress.

A sailing vessel; a vessel of any kind; a craft.

To perform as an anchorman or anchorwoman.

A passage by a sailing vessel; a journey or excursion upon the water.

To be stuck; to be unable to move away from a position.

To be impelled or driven forward by the action of wind upon sails, as a ship on water; to be impelled on a body of water by the action of steam or other power.

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.

To move through or on the water; to swim, as a fish or a water fowl.

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.

To be conveyed in a vessel on water; to pass by water; as, they sailed from London to Canton.

Fig.: That which gives stability or security; that on which we place dependence for safety.

To set sail; to begin a voyage.

An emblem of hope.

To move smoothly through the air; to glide through the air without apparent exertion, as a bird.

A metal tie holding adjoining parts of a building together.

To pass or move upon, as in a ship, by means of sails; hence, to move or journey upon (the water) by means of steam or other force.

One of the anchor-shaped spicules of certain sponges; also, one of the calcareous spinules of certain Holothurians, as in species of Synapta.

To fly through; to glide or move smoothly through.

An achorman, anchorwoman, or anchorperson.

To direct or manage the motion of, as a vessel; as, to sail one's own ship.

An anchoret.

A large piece of fabric (as canvas) by means of which wind is used to propel a sailing vessel

To place at anchor; to secure by an anchor; as, to anchor a ship.

An ocean trip taken for pleasure

To fix or fasten; to fix in a stable condition; as, to anchor the cables of a suspension bridge.

Traverse or travel by ship on (a body of water);

To cast anchor; to come to anchor; as, our ship (or the captain) anchored in the stream.

Move with sweeping, effortless, gliding motions;

To stop; to fix or rest.

Travel in a boat propelled by wind;

A mechanical device that prevents a vessel from moving

Travel by boat on a boat propelled by wind or by other means;

A central cohesive source of support and stability;

A television reporter who coordinates a broadcast to which several correspondents contribute

Fix firmly and stably;

Secure a vessel with an anchor;