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keel

[keel]

noun

Nautical. a central fore-and-aft structural member in the bottom of a hull, extending from the stem to the sternpost and having the floors or frames attached to it, usually at right angles: sometimes projecting from the bottom of the hull to provide stability.

Literary. a ship or boat.

a part corresponding to a ship's keel in some other structure, as in a dirigible balloon.

(initial capital letter) Astronomy. the constellation Carina.

Botany, Zoology. a longitudinal ridge, as on a leaf or bone; a carina.

EXPAND

Also called brace molding. Architecture. a projecting molding the profile of which consists of two ogees symmetrically disposed about an arris or fillet.

COLLAPSE

verb (used with object), verb (used without object)

to turn or upset so as to bring the wrong side or part uppermost.

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Keel is one of our favorite verbs.

So is fletcherise. Does it mean:

to chew (food) slowly and thoroughly.

to introduce subtleties into or argue subtly about.

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Verb phrase

keel over,

to capsize or overturn.

to fall as in a faint: Several cadets keeled over from the heat during the parade.

Idiom

on an even keel, in a state of balance; steady; steadily: The affairs of state are seldom on an even keel for long.

Origin:
1325–75; 1895–1900 for def. 8; Middle English kele < Old Norse kjǫlr; cognate with Old English cēol keel, ship; see keel²

Related forms

keeled, adjective

Example Sentences

Designed to keep the yacht stable and upright under sail, the keel takes the place of crew members sitting on the windward rail.

He said the boat's hull was too thin and the backing plate that attaches the keel to the hull was too narrow.

They need to run bigger budget surpluses to put their finances on an even keel.

EXPAND

Designed to keep the yacht stable and upright under sail, the keel takes the place of crew members sitting on the windward rail.

He said the boat's hull was too thin and the backing plate that attaches the keel to the hull was too narrow.

They need to run bigger budget surpluses to put their finances on an even keel.

Adult female: smaller and duller than male and does not hold tail in deep keel shape.

On solid ground, the wings would swing into clamshell compartments, protected by a steel keel.

The container either holed the hull or separated the keel from the hull and the boat sank.

The appendage, which had loosened inside its keel trunk, caused a leak that nearly sank the boat.

But here's a tip that might help you maintain an even keel as you navigate your way through later chapters.

Migrant labour helps to keep economies on an even keel.

The ship is built around four barbettes, great iron wells going straight down to the keel.

We found it maintained a fairly even keel when driven hard through switchback turns.

The first sector to keel over was residential construction, as demand for new homes dried up.

As a navigator, you only care about having a lot of water under your keel so you don't hit anything.

But now a new production boat for recreational sailors using the same kind of keel mechanism is about to be launched.

Especially unpredictable too are the chances of troubled economies getting back onto an even keel.

Nobody knows whether this is because hospitals offer them less, or because they keel over more quickly.

Tax reform to set the budget on an even keel has been put off.

Germany has lost the will to control events and is relying on its good nature and big friend to keep things on an even keel.

Make sure your family knows your wishes and heeds them if you keel over.

The world needs relationship between these two on an even keel.

Their backs are rounded, without the sharp keel that marks the other two slugs described here.

The borrowed servers threatened to keel over under the weight of the traffic.

It is not known whether the yacht hit a submerged object, or whether the keel broke loose on its own.

It made sense to develop the turbines axially to fit along near the keel of these large ships.

Minkkinen, his legs out of the frame, apparently balancing on his head on the keel of a beached rowboat.

Next he used it to stabilize ships and to keep them on an even keel in all kinds of weather.

Their potential acceleration is far greater than that of a traditional keel boat, he said.

He knows that to be on an even keel with someone is to say sorry when he's done something bad.

The boat had lost its skeg, the metal keel plate on the bottom vital to steering.

Astin is able to maintain an even keel until, at the end of one school.

Owens has now managed to keep his energy level on an even keel all year round.

Wayne is the sort of fellow who inspires confidence and he does much to keep the film on a fairly even keel.

COLLAPSE

Dictionary.com Unabridged

noun British Dialect.

keelboat.

a keelboat load of coal; the amount of coal carried by one keelboat.

a measure of coal equivalent to 21 long tons and 4 hundredweight (21.5 metric tons).

Origin:
1375–1425; late Middle English kele < Middle Dutch kiel ship; cognate with Old English cēol ship, German kiel ship (obsolete), keel¹

verb (used with object) British Dialect.

to cool, especially by stirring.

Origin:
before 900; Middle English kelen, Old English cēlan to be cool; akin to cool

noun

a red ocher stain used for marking sheep, lumber, etc.; ruddle.

Origin:
1475–85; earlier keyle (north and Scots dial.); compare Scots Gaelic cìl (itself perhaps < E)

Link To keel

Collins

World English Dictionary

keel¹ (kiːl)

—n
1.	one of the main longitudinal structural members of a vessel to which the frames are fastened and that may extend into the water to provide lateral stability
2.	on an even keel well-balanced; steady
3.	any structure corresponding to or resembling the keel of a ship, such as the central member along the bottom of an aircraft fuselage
4.	biology a ridgelike part; carina
5.	a poetic word for ship

—vb
6.	to capsize

[C14: from Old Norse kjölr; related to Middle Dutch kiel,keel²]

'keel-less¹

—*adj*

keel² (kiːl)

—n
1.	a flat-bottomed vessel, esp one used for carrying coal
2.	a measure of coal equal to about 21 tons

[C14 kele, from Middle Dutch kiel; compare Old English cēol ship]

keel³ (kiːl)

—n
1.	red ochre stain used for marking sheep, timber, etc

—vb
2.	to mark with this stain

[Old English cēlan, from cōlcool]

keel⁴ (kiːl)

—vb
	an archaic word for cool

[C15: probably from Scottish Gaelic cīl]

keel⁵ (kiːl)

—n
	a fatal disease of young ducks, characterized by intestinal bleeding caused by Salmonella bacteria

[C19: from keel¹; see keel over]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

keel

"lowest timber of a ship or boat," mid-14c., from O.N. kjölr "keel," from P.Gmc. *keluz, of uncertain origin. Etymologists say this is unconnected with the root of M.Du. kiel "ship," O.E. ceol "ship's prow," O.H.G. kiel, Ger. Kiel "ship," but the two words have influenced each other. This other

EXPAND

word is said to be from P.Gmc. *keula, from PIE *geul- "rounded vessel." Keel still is used locally in England and U.S. for "flat-bottomed boat," especially on the Tyne. To keel over (1876) is from the nautical image of a ship turning keel-up. Keelhaul is 17c. from Du. kielhalen "to haul under the keel," an old punishment. The verb is 1838, Amer.Eng., from the noun.

COLLAPSE

American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

keel

In addition to the idiom beginning with keel, also see on an even keel.

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keel

on an even keel

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Matching Quote

"We had made about fifty miles this day with sail and oar, and now, far in the evening, our boat was grating against the bulrushes of its native port, and its keel recognized the Concord mud, where some semblance of its outline was preserved in the flattened flags which had scarce yet erected themselves since our departure; and we leaped gladly on shore, drawing it up and fastening it to the wild apple tree, whose stem still bore the mark which its chain had worn in the chafing of the spring freshets."

-Henry David Thoreau

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