keel
nounverbverbnounnounverbverbattested in dialogue
- United Kingdom//kiːl//
A large beam along the underside of a ship’s hull from bow to stern.
noun
- 1
A large beam along the underside of a ship’s hull from bow to stern.
I hear the noise about thy keel; I hear the bell struck in the night: I see the cabin-window bright; I see the sailor at the wheel.
- 2
A rigid, flat piece of material anchored to the lowest part of the hull of a ship to give it greater control and stability.
- 3
In a dirigible, a construction similar in form and use to a ship's keel; in an aeroplane, a fin or fixed surface employed to increase stability and to hold the machine to its course.
- 4
The rigid bottom part of something else, especially an iceberg.
The most important ice features are the frequency and extent of downward projections (bummocks and ice keels) from the underside of the ice canopy (pack ice and enclosed water areas from the point of view of the submariner)[…]
Bill Roggensack, EBA Engineering Ltd.: So at the end of this particular simulation, presumably the keel of the iceberg is in contact with the seabed? / Chris Woodworth-Lynas: It is just in contact with the seabed.
Would he be able to break through the surface ice or would they ram into an ice keel extending down from the bottom of the ice pack that would rip their craft open like a mere sardine can?
- 5
A type of flat-bottomed boat.
The ladies remained at the house, while the men walked to the staith on the [River] Wear, and were shown the process of unloading the wagons into the keels by means of the coal-drop.
- 6
The periphery of a whorl extended to form a more or less flattened plate; a prominent spiral ridge.
- 7
The two lowest petals of the corolla of a papilionaceous flower, united and enclosing the stamens and pistil; a carina.
Vegetatively it is the nearest to H. translucens with its oblong-lanceolate leaves, with the margins and keel beset with pellucid teeth, but it differs and is characterised by the greyish-black quadrantly positioned globose flowers; […]
- 8
The extension of a bird's sternum to which pectoral muscles attach.
Etymology
From Middle English kele, from Old Norse kjǫlr, itself from Proto-Germanic *keluz, of uncertain origin. Displaced Old English ċēol from a related root. Distantly related to kile.
verb
- 1
To collapse, to fall.
He keeled over after having a stroke.
- 2
To traverse with a keel; to navigate.
- 3
To turn up the keel; to show the bottom.
verb
- 1
obsoleteTo cool; make cool; to cool by stirring or skimming in order to keep from boiling over.
A merrie note, / While greaſie Ione doth keele the pot.
- 2
obsoleteTo moderate the ardour or intensity of; assuage; to appease, pacify, or lessen.
- 3
obsoleteTo become cool; cool down.
Etymology
From Middle English kelen, from Old English cēlan (“to cool, to make or become cool”), from Proto-West Germanic *kōlijan, from Proto-Germanic *kōlijaną (“to cool”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian käile, köile (“to cool”), Dutch koelen (“to cool”), German Low German köhlen (“to cool”), German kühlen (“to cool”), Danish køle (“to cool”), Icelandic kæla (“to cool”).
noun
- 1
A broad, flat vessel used for cooling liquids; a brewer's cooling vat; a keelfat.
noun
- 1
Red chalk; ruddle.
Etymology
Probably from Scottish Gaelic cìl (“ruddle”).
verb
- 1
To mark with ruddle.
verb
- 1
Variant of killPronunciation spelling of kill.
Etymology
Compare Scots kele, keil, keill (“to put to death, kill”).
Forms
- plural
- keels
- past tense
- keeled
- past participle
- keeled
- present participle
- keeling
- third person singular
- keels
keel · A large beam along the underside of a ship’s hull from bow to stern.
keen · Often with a prepositional phrase, or with to and an…Keen · A surname.keep · To continue in (a course or mode of action); to not intermit…