Online dictionaryOnline dictionary
Synonyms, antonyms, pronunciation

  Home 		English Dictionary      examples: 'day', 'get rid of', 'New York Bay'




Keel   /kil/   Listen
noun
Keel  n.  A brewer's cooling vat; a keelfat.


Keel  n.  
1.
(Shipbuilding) A longitudinal timber, or series of timbers scarfed together, extending from stem to stern along the bottom of a vessel. It is the principal timber of the vessel, and, by means of the ribs attached on each side, supports the vessel's frame. In an iron vessel, a combination of plates supplies the place of the keel of a wooden ship.
2.
Fig.: The whole ship.
3.
A barge or lighter, used on the Tyne for carrying coal from Newcastle; also, a barge load of coal, twenty-one tons, four cwt. (Eng.)
4.
(Bot.) The two lowest petals of the corolla of a papilionaceous flower, united and inclosing the stamens and pistil; a carina. See Carina.
5.
(Nat. Hist.) A projecting ridge along the middle of a flat or curved surface.
6.
(Aeronautics) 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.
Bilge keel (Naut.), a keel peculiar to ironclad vessels, extending only a portion of the length of the vessel under the bilges.
False keel. See under False.
Keel boat.
(a)
A covered freight boat, with a keel, but no sails, used on Western rivers. (U. S.)
(b)
A low, flat-bottomed freight boat. See Keel, n., 3.
Keel piece, one of the timbers or sections of which a keel is composed.
On even keel, in a level or horizontal position, so that the draught of water at the stern and the bow is the same.
On an even keel a. & adv., steady; balanced; steadily.


verb
Keel  v. t. & v. i.  To cool; to skim or stir. (Obs.) "While greasy Joan doth keel the pot."


Keel  v. i.  (past & past part. keeled; pres. part. keeling)  
1.
To traverse with a keel; to navigate.
2.
To turn up the keel; to show the bottom.
To keel over, to upset; to capsize. (Colloq.)





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


Advanced search
     Find words:
Starting with
Ending with
Containing
Matching a pattern  

Synonyms
Antonyms
Quotes
Words linked to  

only single words


Share |
Add this dictionary
to your browser search bar




"Keel" Quotes from Famous Books



... against the fading skies, I heard its keel slide crunching up the sand, Then turned, and read, deep in the other's eyes, The pain of one who can not understand. Dusk deepened over the insurging seas, And loose sails crackled ...
— The Five Books of Youth • Robert Hillyer
... Rover o' Lochryan, he's gane, Wi' his merry men sae brave; Their hearts are o' the steel, an' a better keel Ne'er bowl'd owre the back o' a wave. Its no when the loch lies dead in his trough When naething disturbs it ava; But the rack and the ride o' the restless tide, Or the splash ...
— The Modern Scottish Minstrel, Volume V. - The Songs of Scotland of the Past Half Century • Various
... well out at sea, with Ushant five hundred miles in her wake, and countless fathoms of water beneath her keel, Fisher took a newspaper parcel from his travelling-bag. His teeth were firm set and his lips rigid. He carried the heavy parcel to the side of the ship and dropped it into the Atlantic. It made a little eddy in the smooth water, and sank out of sight. Fisher fancied ...
— Stories by American Authors, Volume 10 • Various
... boat had to stop, as her keel scraped the mud in the almost dry thoroughfare, and a plain island man of benevolent, nearly credulous, face, ...
— The Entailed Hat - Or, Patty Cannon's Times • George Alfred Townsend
... your bounds ye chance to light Upon a fine, fat fodgel wight, O' stature short, but genius bright, That's he, mark weel; And wow! he has an unco sleight O' cauk and keel. ...
— Poems And Songs Of Robert Burns • Robert Burns


More quotes...


Copyright © 2025 Dictionary One.com