keels


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keel 1

 (kēl)
n.
1. Nautical
a. The principal structural member of a boat or ship, running along the center of the hull from bow to stern, to which the ribs are attached.
b. A projecting ridge or fin on the bottom of the hull of a boat or ship that improves directional control and is often weighted for added stability.
2. The principal structural member of an aircraft, resembling a ship's keel in shape and function.
3. A structure, such as the breastbone of a bird, that resembles a ship's keel in function or shape.
4. A pair of united petals in certain flowers, as those of many members of the pea family.
intr. & tr.v. keeled, keel·ing, keels Nautical
To capsize or cause to capsize.
Phrasal Verb:
keel over
To collapse or fall into or as if into a faint.

[Middle English kele, from Old Norse kjölr.]

keel 2

 (kēl)
n.
1. Nautical
a. A sail-powered barge, especially one historically used on the rivers of northern England.
b. The load capacity of this barge.
2. A British unit of weight formerly used for coal, equal to about 21.2 long tons.

[Middle English kele, from Middle Dutch kiel.]

keel 3

 (kēl)
tr.v. keeled, keel·ing, keels Chiefly British
To make cool.

[Middle English kelen, from Old English cēlan, to cool; see gel- in Indo-European roots.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
References in classic literature ?
After all, the only mission of a seaman's calling is to keep ships' keels off the ground.
It is difficult for a seaman to believe that his stranded ship does not feel as unhappy at the unnatural predicament of having no water under her keel as he is himself at feeling her stranded.
We have been treated to the spectacle of what are practically keeled racing-planes driven a clear five foot or more above the water, and only eased down to touch their so-called " native element" as they near the line.
THE Gallant Crew at a life-saving station were about to launch their life-boat for a spin along the coast when they discovered, but a little distance away, a capsized vessel with a dozen men clinging to her keel.
Unloosed from their lashing by the constant turning and twisting of the ship and the force of the wind, the boarding and landing tackle had been trailing beneath the keel, a tangled mass of cordage and leather.
The Vanator now rested upon an even keel as she was carried along by a strong, though steady, wind.
So close did the monster come to the hull, that at first it seemed as if he meant it malice; but suddenly going down in a maelstrom, within three rods of the planks, he wholly disappeared from view, as if diving under the keel. Cut, cut!
The boat in which Cook was struck on a rock, and, if it did not sink, it was owing to a piece of coral that was broken by the shock, and fixed itself in the broken keel.
But in that gale, the port, the land, is that ship's direst jeopardy; she must fly all hospitality; one touch of land, though it but graze the keel, would make her shudder through and through.
It stood in a small side room which looked out across a narrow grass plot toward the shed, where there was a disabled boat lying keel upward.
Hither to work us weal; Without a breeze, without a tide, She steadies with upright keel!
Borckman and the black steersman echoed his words, and, as the wheel spun down, the Arangi, with the swiftness of a witch, rounded into the wind and attained a momentary even keel to the flapping of her headsails and a shifting of headsheets.