A N C 
AN'CESTRY, f Lineage; a feries of anceflors, or 
progenitors ; the perfons who compofe the lineage.—A 
tenacious adherence to the rights and liberties tranfmittcd 
front a wife and virtuous ancejlry , public fpirit, and a love 
of one’s country, are the fupport and ornaments of govern¬ 
ment. Addifon. The honour of defcent; birth.—Title and 
ancejlry render a good man more illufirious, but an ill one 
more contemptible. Addifon. 
AN'CHENTRY, f. [from ancient, and therefore pro¬ 
perly to be written ancientry. ] Antiquity of a family ; an¬ 
cient dignity ; appearance or proof of antiquity. 
AN'CHILOPS, /. [xyzvto, contradlion, arid cof, eye.] 
In medicine, denotes an abfcefs, or colledtion of matter, 
between the great angle of the eye and the nofe. If [of¬ 
fered to remain too long, or unlkilfully managed, it dege¬ 
nerates, the liagnating humours corrupt, and an ulcer is 
produced. When the tumour is broke, and the tears flow 
involuntarily, whilft the os lacrymale is not carious, it is an 
agylops; but when the ulcer is of a long Handing, deep, 
fetid, and the os lacrymale becomes carious, it is a fjlula. 
The cure is by reftri&ion and excilion, tying it at the root 
on the glandula lacrymalis, and, when ready, cutting it off. 
See Surgery Index. 
ANCHI'SES, a 'frojan prince, fon of Capys, and father 
of .Tineas, by the goddefs Venus. In his youth he fed 
cattle at the foot of mount Ida. After the burning of 
Troy, he could not fly from the city on account of his 
age ; and therefore Tineas carried him on his back. He 
bore his houfliold gods along with him, and died in Sicily, 
where his fon erefted a magnificent tomb to his memory. 
AN'CHOR,yi \_anchora, Lat. of ayxopct, Gr.] A heavy 
iron, compofed of a long (hank, having a ring at one end 
to which the cable is fafiened, and at the other branching 
out into two arms or Hooks, tending upwards, with barbs 
on each fide. Its ufe is to hold the (hip, by being fixed 
to the ground. It is ufed, by a metaphor, for any thing 
which confers liability or fecurity.—Which hope we have 
as an anchor of the foul, both fure and fiedfall, and which 
entereth into that within the veil. Hebrews . The forms of 
fpeech in which it is mofi ufed are, to cajl anchor, to lie or 
ride at anchor. 
The moll ancient anchors are Laid to have been of Hone; 
and fometimes of wood, to which a great quantity of lead 
was ufually fixed. In fome places, balkets full of Hones, 
and facks filled with fand, were employed for the fame ufe. 
All thefe were let down by cords into the fea; and by their 
weight flayed the courfe of the fhip. Afterwards they were 
compofed of iron, and furniflied with teeth, which, being 
faflened to the bottom of the fea, preferved the veffel im¬ 
moveable; whence ovnc, and dentes, are frequently taken 
for anchors in the Greek and Latin poets. At fir'll there 
was only one tooth, whence anchors were called ilepodlofion 
but in a fliort time the fecond was added by Eupalamus, 
or Anacharfis, the Scythian philofopher. The anchors 
with two teeth were called ccfj.Cp&oXoi or a/yf KrTog-ot; and- 
from ancient monuments appear to have been much the 
fame with thofe ufed in our days, only the tranfverle piece 
of wood upon their handles, the Hock, is w anting in all 
of them. Every fhip had feveral anchors ; one of which, 
fiurpafling all the refl in bignefs and flrength, was parti¬ 
cularly termed is^a, or facra, and was never ufed but in 
extreme danger; whence facrarn anchoramfolvere, is pro¬ 
verbially applied to fuch as are forced to their lall refuge. 
The anchors now r made are contrived fo as to fink into 
the ground as foon as they reach it, and to hold a great 
flrain before they can be loofened or dillodged from their 
Ration. They are compofed of a fliank, a Hock, a ring; 
and two arms with their Hooks. The flock ferves to guide 
the flboks in a direction perpendicular to the furface of the 
ground; fo that one of them links into it by its own weight 
as foon as it falls, and is Hill preferved Readily in that po- 
fition by the Hock, which, together with the fliank, lies 
flat on the bottom. In this fituatioivit muff neceffarily 
fuflain a great effort before it can be dragged through the 
Vol. I. Ns. 43. 
A N C 6^3 
earth horizontally. Indeed this can only be effected by 
the violence of the wind or tide, or both of them, fom'e- 
times increafed by the turbulence of the fea, and a cl in o- 
upon the fhip fo as to flretch the cable to its utmofl teri- 
fioh, which accordingly may dillodge the anchor from its 
bed, efpecially if the ground be foft and oozy, or rocky. 
When the anchor is thus difplaced, it is faid," in the fea- 
phrafe, to come home. Every (hip has, or ought to have, 
three principal anchors, with a cable to each, viz. the 
flieet, maitrejfc-ancre (which is the anchora facra of the an¬ 
cients) ; the bell bower, fecond ancre ; and fmall bower, 
ancrc d'affourcke, fo called from their ufual fituation on 
the flap's bows. There are belides fmaller anchors, for 
removing a fliip from place to place in a harbour or river, 
where there may not be room or wind for failing; thefe 
are the flreani anchor, ancrc de torse ; the kedgeand grapling, 
grapin: this lafl, however, is chiefly defigned for boats. 
In England, France, and Holland, anchors are made 
of forged iron ; but in Spain they are fometimes made of 
copper, and likewife in feveral parts of the South Sea. 
M. Bouguer, in his T'raite de Navire, diredts to take the 
length of-the fliank in inches, and to divide the cube of 
it by 1160 for the weight. The reafon is obvious; be- 
caufe the quotient of the cube of 201 inches, which is 
the length of an anchor weighing 70001b. divided by the 
weight, is 1160 ; and therefore, by the rule of three, this 
will be a common divifor for the cube of any length, and 
a Angle operation will fuffice. The fame author gives the 
following dimenfions of the feveral parts of an anchor. 
The two arms generally form the arch of a circle, whole 
centre is three-eighths of the fliank from the vertex, or 
point where it is fixed to the fliank ; and each arm is equal 
to the fame length, or the radius; fo that the two arms 
together make an arch of 120 degrees: the flooks are half 
the length of the arms, and their breadth two-fifths of 
the faid length. With refpedt to the thicknefs, the cir¬ 
cumference at the throat, or vertex of the fliank, is gene¬ 
rally made about a fifth part of its length, and the fmall 
end two-thirds of the throat ; the filial! end of the arms 
of the flooks, three-fourths of the circumference of the 
fliank at the throat. Thefe dimenfioiis fiiould be enlarged 
when the iron is of a bad quality, efpecially if call iron ii 
ufed infiead of forged iron. 
Anchor of Brandy, in Holland, ten Englifh wine 
gallons. 
To Anchor, v.n. To cafi anchor; to lie at anchor. 
To Hop at; to refl on: 
My intention, hearing.not my tongue. 
Anchors on Ilabel. Shahefpeart. 
To Anchor, v. a. To place at anchor ; as, h e^tnehored 
his fliip. To fix on : 
My tongue fliould to my ears not name my boys, 
Till that my nails were anchor'd in thine'eyes. Shahefpeart. 
AN'CHOR-noi.D,yi The hold or faflnefs of the anchor ; 
and, figuratively, fecurity.—.The old Englifli could ex¬ 
press mofi aptly all the conceits of the mind in their own 
tongue, without borrowing from any; as for example; 
the holy lervice of God, which the Latins called religion, 
becaufe it knitted the minds of men together, and mofi 
people of Europe have borrowed the lame from them, 
they called mofi fignificanfly ean-f&fmefs, as the one and 
only affurance and fail anchor-hold of our fouls health. 
Camden. 
An'chor-smith, f. The maker or forger cf anchors. 
—Smithing comprehends all trades which ufe either forge 
or file, from the anchor-fmitk to the watch-maker; they all 
working by the fame rules, though not with equal exadt- 
nefs ; and all iifing the fame tools, though of feveral fizes. 
Moxon. 
AN'CHOR AGE,yi The hold of the anchor.—Let me 
refolve whether there be indeed fuch efiicaey in nurture 
and firfl production; for, if that fuppofal ihouid fail us, 
all our anchorage were loofe, and we Ihouid-but wander in 
8 I 
