anchoring

1. 1
   noununcountable

   The act or means of fixing something firmly in position so that it does not move.

   The anchoring of the scaffolding to the wall prevented any movement during construction.

   Without proper anchoring, the heavy shelves could topple over.

   Similarfastening, fixing

   Note

   Beyond scaffolding and shelves, the word stretches to whatever ties an idea to its setting. It can be counted as well as used as a mass noun, and the plural often carries this figurative weight. Christian Hermansen Cordua (2012) describes Geddes's thinking as "stripped of its temporal anchorings": cut loose from its own time. Anchorings here are the connections that keep something grounded, not the bolts that keep it still.

2. 2
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of anchor.

   The sailors are anchoring the boat in the cove before the storm hits.

   Anchoring the cables securely to the seabed took the whole afternoon.

   Note

   The verb form carries every use of anchor, from boats to broadcasts: a crew is anchoring the ship, a ship is anchoring in the bay, a presenter is anchoring the evening news. As a gerund it takes a direct object, as in anchoring the cables. By contrast, the noun for the act needs of, as in the anchoring of the cables.

3. 3
   noununcountable

   The tendency to keep later estimates close to an initial figure or guess, giving that first value too much weight even when a much larger change would be more accurate.

   Like a ship that drifts only a little from where its anchor first dropped, your judgment barely moves from the first figure you hear.

   Anchoring led the negotiators to settle near the seller's opening price rather than the item's true value.

   Researchers found that anchoring skews people's estimates whenever a starting number is mentioned first.

   Similarfocalism

   Note

   Psychologists borrow the image from the physical sense. The first number heard works like a weight dropped overboard, and later answers drift only as far as the chain allows. The telling detail is the size of the shortfall: someone who ought to move from 20% to 90% stops at 30%. Focalism names the same pull toward a starting point.

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