anniversary, n. 1. A measurement of survival disguised as celebration. From the Latin anniversarius: returning yearly, as tides return to harbours they've already mapped. 2. The point at which routine becomes ritual. Cf. the difference between a city seen from above (grid, infrastructure, wind corridors at 12.35 m/s) and a city seen from inside a glass of wine (refractive, burgundy, unmeasurable). 3. Archaic: a day on which the completed and the continuing occupy the same calendar square without apology. Tasks fold themselves into origami. Ferns uncurl. A contract is not the opposite of a toast — both require two parties, a moment of contact, and the willingness to hold still while something is signed or sipped. 4. Informal: what the gears were always turning toward.