drop anchor
"drop-anchor" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“drop anchor” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 11
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To release the anchor of a ship or boat, allowing it to fall to the bed of a body of water and thereby securing the vessel in place.
Corpus desk
Index EN-drop-anchor · drop anchor · English
drop anchor · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 11 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "D" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | drop anchor |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 11 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “drop anchor” in English
Rare enough to double-check
drop anchor is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
No misspelling variants are generated for drop anchor in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct English form is drop anchor, spelled D-R-O-P- -A-N-C-H-O-R.
Definition
- 1To release the anchor of a ship or boat, allowing it to fall to the bed of a body of water and thereby securing the vessel in place.
- 2To stop travelling and settle down.
- 3To defecate.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how drop anchor appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
[…] had emigrated first to one country, then to another, till he finally dropped anchor in London.
Junkyard Dog always stopped for lengthy bathroom breaks by announcing his intentions in advance, using a different euphemism every time, saying, to name a few, "I have to: drop anchor... do some paperwork... lay some foundation... pinch a loaf... lighten my load...."
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.