| Keel 1. (v. t. & i.) To cool; to skim or stir. 2. (n.) A brewer's cooling vat; a keelfat. 3. (n.) 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 4. (n.) Fig.: The whole ship. 5. (n.) A barge or lighter, used on the Type for carrying coal from Newcastle; also, a barge load of coal, twenty-one tons, four cwt. 6. (n.) The two lowest petals of the corolla of a papilionaceous flower, united and inclosing the stamens and pistil; a carina. See Carina. 7. (n.) A projecting ridge along the middle of a flat or curved surface. 8. (v. i.) To traverse with a keel; to navigate. 9. (v. i.) To turn up the keel; to show the bottom. Thesaurus Entries argosy, ascend, bank, bark, base, baseboard, basement, be lost, boat, bottom, bucket, cant, capsize, careen, chassis, climb, craft, dado, decline, descend, dip, drop, fall, fall away, fall off, foot, footing, foundation, founder, frame, go down, go downhill, go uphill, grade, hooker, hulk, hull, incline, keel over, lean, leviathan, list, mopboard, nadir, overset, overturn, packet, pitch, pitchpole, rake, retreat, rise, scuttle, shelve, ship, shoemold, sidle, sink, slant, slope, sole, somersault, swag, sway, tilt, tip, toe, tub, turn over, turn turtle, uprise, upset, upset the boat, vessel, wainscot, watercraft |