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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


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"Keel" Quotes from Famous Books



... few moments the decoys were stacked to prevent drifting, and the boat covered so that no snow could penetrate. A pair of small oars were first, however, removed, which were set upright at either extremity of the boat, and in direct line with the keel. ...
— Adrift in the Ice-Fields • Charles W. Hall
... and we will catch you," he cried out, as the boat pulled close to the keel of the brig, the rigging preventing her ...
— The Three Admirals • W.H.G. Kingston
... moored a boat. It was not such a craft as the Greyhound, in which Fanny had been accustomed to sail; it was a bateau, or flat-bottomed boat, with very sharp slopes under the bow and stern. It had a keel and rudder, and was ...
— Hope and Have - or, Fanny Grant Among the Indians, A Story for Young People • Oliver Optic
... the halcyon days of the bush. My husband had purchased a very light cedar canoe, to which he attached a keel and a sail; and most of our leisure hours, directly the snows melted, were spent ...
— Roughing it in the Bush • Susanna Moodie
... Chater was a loud young man, emanating a swaggering air that the term "side" well fitted. To have some conceit of oneself is an excellent affair. The possession is a keel that gives to the craft a dignified balance upon the stream of life—prevents it from being sailed too close to mud; helps maintain stability in sudden gale. Other craft are keelless—they are canoes; bobbing, unsteady, likely to capsize in sudden ...
— Once Aboard The Lugger • Arthur Stuart-Menteth Hutchinson


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