keel

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.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /kiːl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːl

keel (plural keels)

1. (nautical) A large beam along the underside of a ship’s hull from bow to stern.
   • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, Canto X:

     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. (nautical) 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. (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.
4. (by extension) The rigid bottom part of something else, especially an iceberg.

   Coordinate term: bummock

   • 1975, Nathaniel Bowditch, American Practical Navigator: An Epitome of Navigation, page 834:

     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) […]

   • 1986, Environmental Studies Revolving Funds (Canada), C. F. M. Lewis, Federal Panel on Energy Research and Development (Canada), Gulf Canada Resources Inc, Ice Scour Workshop (1985 : Calgary, Alta.), Ice Scour and Seabed Engineering: Proceedings of a Workshop on Ice Scour Research:

     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.

   • 2021 September 30, Kenneth Andrus, Arctic Menace, Babylon Books, →ISBN:

     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. (nautical) A type of flat-bottomed boat.
   • 1948 January and February, “Notes and News: Duke of Wellington's Early Railway Journey”, in Railway Magazine, page 56:

     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. (zoology) The periphery of a whorl extended to form a more or less flattened plate; a prominent spiral ridge.
7. (botany) The two lowest petals of the corolla of a papilionaceous flower, united and enclosing the stamens and pistil; a carina.
   • 1985, Charles L. Scott, The Genus Haworthia (Liliaceae): A Taxonomic Revision, page 80:

     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; […]

keel (third-person singular simple present keels, present participle keeling, simple past and past participle keeled)

1. (intransitive, followed by "over") 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.

• keel over

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”).

keel (third-person singular simple present keels, present participle keeling, simple past and past participle keeled)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To cool; make cool; to cool by stirring or skimming in order to keep from boiling over.

   while greasy Joan doth keel the pot (Shakespeare)

2. (transitive, obsolete) To moderate the ardour or intensity of; assuage; to appease, pacify, or lessen.
3. (intransitive, obsolete) To become cool; cool down.

• keeler

keel (plural keels)

1. (brewing) A broad, flat vessel used for cooling liquids; a brewer's cooling vat; a keelfat.

Probably from Scottish Gaelic cìl (“ruddle”).

keel

1. (Scotland) Red chalk; ruddle.

keel (third-person singular simple present keels, present participle keeling, simple past and past participle keeled)

1. (Scotland, transitive) To mark with ruddle.

Compare Scots kele, keil, keill (“to put to death, kill”).

keel (third-person singular simple present keels, present participle keeling, simple past and past participle keeled)

1. (humorous, nonstandard) Pronunciation spelling of kill.

• Used to mimic a foreign accent.

• Kele, Leek, elke, leek, lekë

From Dutch keel, from Middle Dutch kēle, from Old Dutch kela, from Proto-Germanic *kelǭ.

• IPA^(key): /kɪə̯l/

• Audio

  (file)

keel (plural kele)

1. throat

• keelgat
• keelseer

• IPA^(key): /keːl/, [keːɫ]

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: keel
• Rhymes: -eːl

From Middle Dutch kēle, from Old Dutch kela, from Proto-West Germanic *kelā, from Proto-Germanic *kelǭ.

keel f (plural kelen, diminutive keeltje n)

1. throat

   Synonym: hals

   Hij had last van een zere keel na het schreeuwen tijdens het concert.

   He had a sore throat after shouting during the concert.

   Als je een visgraat inslikt, kan het in je keel blijven steken.

   If you swallow a fishbone, it can get stuck in your throat.

   De zangeres heeft een prachtige stem die uit haar keel komt.

   The singer has a beautiful voice that comes from her throat.

• baard in de keel
• blauwkeelara
• blauwkeeltje
• keelgat
• keelpijn
• robijnkeelkolibrie
• roodkeelduiker
• roodkeelpieper

• Afrikaans: keel
• Negerhollands: keel

From French gueule (“red throat of wild animals”), from Old French goles, plural of gole (“throat”), from Latin gula. Distantly related to Etymology 1 above.

keel n (uncountable)

1. (heraldry) gules, the blazoning term for the color red

• leek, leke

From Proto-Finnic *keeli, from Proto-Uralic *käle. Cognate with Finnish kieli.

• IPA^(key): /ˈkeːl/, [ˈkeːl]

keel (genitive keele, partitive keelt)

1. language
2. tongue
3. string of musical instrument

• “keel”, in [EKSS] Eesti keele seletav sõnaraamat [Descriptive Dictionary of the Estonian Language] (in Estonian) (online version), Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus (Estonian Language Foundation), 2009
• “keel”, in [PSV] Eesti keele põhisõnavara sõnastik [Dictionary of Estonian Basic Vocabulary] (in Estonian) (online version, not updated), Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus (Estonian Language Foundation), 2014

keel

1. adessive singular of kee

keel

1. adessive singular of kesi

• (Ala-Laukaa) IPA^(key): /ˈkeːl/, [ˈkeːlʲ]
• (Soikkola) IPA^(key): /ˈkeːlʲ/, [ˈke̝ːlʲ]
• Rhymes: -eːl, -eːlʲ
• Hyphenation: keel

keel

1. Alternative form of keeli

• Ruben E. Nirvi (1971) Inkeroismurteiden Sanakirja, Helsinki: Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura, page 162
• Olga I. Konkova, Nikita A. Dyachkov (2014) Inkeroin Keel: Пособие по Ижорскому Языку‎, →ISBN, page 33

From Proto-Kuki-Chin *keel, from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *keel.

keel

1. goat

• Zomi Ordbog based on the work of D.L. Haokip