KEEL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does keel mean? 

• KEEL (noun)
  The noun KEEL has 3 senses:

1. a projection or ridge that suggests a keel

2. the median ridge on the breastbone of birds that fly

3. one of the main longitudinal beams (or plates) of the hull of a vessel; can extend vertically into the water to provide lateral stability

  Familiarity information: KEEL used as a noun is uncommon.

• KEEL (verb)
  The verb KEEL has 1 sense:

1. walk as if unable to control one's movements

  Familiarity information: KEEL used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• KEEL (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A projection or ridge that suggests a keel

Classified under:

Nouns denoting two and three dimensional shapes

Hypernyms ("keel" is a kind of...):

projection (any solid convex shape that juts out from something)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The median ridge on the breastbone of birds that fly

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Hypernyms ("keel" is a kind of...):

carina (any of various keel-shaped structures or ridges such as that on the breastbone of a bird or that formed by the fused petals of a pea blossom)

Holonyms ("keel" is a part of...):

carinate; carinate bird; flying bird (birds having keeled breastbones for attachment of flight muscles)

Sense 3

Meaning:

One of the main longitudinal beams (or plates) of the hull of a vessel; can extend vertically into the water to provide lateral stability

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("keel" is a kind of...):

beam (long thick piece of wood or metal or concrete, etc., used in construction)

Meronyms (parts of "keel"):

fin keel (a metal plate projecting from the keel of a shallow vessel to give it greater lateral stability)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "keel"):

bilge keel (either of two lengthwise fins attached along the outside of a ship's bilge; reduces rolling)

Holonyms ("keel" is a part of...):

hull (the frame or body of ship)

• KEEL (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they keel    ... he / she / it keels   
Past simple: keeled   
Past participle: keeled   
-ing form: keeling   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Walk as if unable to control one's movements

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

careen; keel; lurch; reel; stagger; swag

Context example:

The drunken man staggered into the room

Hypernyms (to "keel" is one way to...):

walk (use one's feet to advance; advance by steps)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

 Context examples 

Instead, the tail is long and flexible, with keels of feathers running down each side, said Ryan McKellar of Canada's Royal Saskatchewan Museum.

(Scientists find dinosaur feathers preserved in amber, Wikinews)

The spritsail flapped emptily and the boat righted to an even keel, causing the two men swiftly to change position.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

"Instead, the tail is long and flexible, with keels of feathers running down each side."

(Dinosaur Tail Found in Myanmar, VOA News)

The schooner trembled to her keel under the reverse, but next moment, the other sails still drawing, the jib flapped back again and hung idle.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

He came aboard with a black coat, and his papers right, and money enough in his box to buy the thing right up from keel to main-truck.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“Look at dat Buck. Heem keel dat Spitz, heem t’ink to take de job.”

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

Swiftly they rove ropes to the corners, and then, rushing forward to the bows, they lowered them under the keel, and drew them tight in such a way that the sail should cover the outer face of the gap.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Clouds hid the moon, everything was obscure, and I heard only the sound of the boat as its keel cut through the waves; the murmur lulled me, and in a short time I slept soundly.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

There was a bell on board; and as the ship rolled and dashed, like a desperate creature driven mad, now showing us the whole sweep of her deck, as she turned on her beam-ends towards the shore, now nothing but her keel, as she sprung wildly over and turned towards the sea, the bell rang; and its sound, the knell of those unhappy men, was borne towards us on the wind.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Then, as a second lieutenant, he was in one of those grim three-deckers with powder-blackened hulls and crimson scupper-holes, their spare cables tied round their keels and over their bulwarks to hold them together, which carried the news into the Bay of Naples.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)