Keel \Keel\ (k[=e]l), v. t. & i. [AS. c[=e]lan to cool, fr. c[=o]l cool. See {Cool}.] To cool; to skim or stir. [Obs.]
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot. --Shak.
Keel \Keel\, n. A brewer's cooling vat; a keelfat.
Keel \Keel\, n. [Cf. AS. ce['o]l ship; akin to D. & G. kiel keel, OHG. chiol ship, Icel. kj[=o]ll, and perh. to Gr. gay^los a round-built Ph[oe]nician merchant vessel, gaylo`s bucket; cf. Skr. g[=o]la ball, round water vessel. But the meaning of the English word seems to come from Icel. kj["o]lr keel, akin to Sw. k["o]l, Dan. kj["o]l.] 1. (Shipbuilding) 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. See Illust. of {Keelson}.
2. Fig.: The whole ship.
3. A barge or lighter, used on the Tyne for carrying coal from Newcastle; also, a barge load of coal, twenty-one tons, four cwt. [Eng.]
4. (Bot.) The two lowest petals of the corolla of a papilionaceous flower, united and inclosing the stamens and pistil; a carina. See {Carina}.
5. (Nat. Hist.) A projecting ridge along the middle of a flat or curved surface.
6. (Aeronautics) In a dirigible, a construction similar in form and use to a ship's keel; in an a["e]roplane, a fin or fixed surface employed to increase stability and to hold the machine to its course. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
{Bilge keel} (Naut.), a keel peculiar to ironclad vessels, extending only a portion of the length of the vessel under the bilges. --Ham. Nav. Encyc.
{False keel}. See under {False}.
{Keel boat}. (a) A covered freight boat, with a keel, but no sails, used on Western rivers. [U. S.] (b) A low, flat-bottomed freight boat. See {Keel}, n., 3.
{Keel piece}, one of the timbers or sections of which a keel is composed.
{On even keel}, in a level or horizontal position, so that the draught of water at the stern and the bow is the same. --Ham. Nav. Encyc.
{On an even keel} a. & adv., steady; balanced; steadily.
Keel \Keel\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Keeled}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Keeling}.] 1. To traverse with a keel; to navigate.
2. To turn up the keel; to show the bottom.
{To keel over}, to upset; to capsize. [Colloq.]
Young cats recover their balance in 10 to 14 days, people in four to 10 weeks, he said, and they use their eyes and the remaining balance organ to stay on an even keel.
Norweb purchased 5m shares, or 2.9 per cent of its issued capital, at 795p. South Western also moved in to acquire more of its own stock, buying 500,000 shares at 766p. Smith New Court was responsible for keeping the Scottish generators on an even keel.
A spare mast had been bolted to the keel to stiffen her. Rocks and bags of gravel and rocks served as ballast. The group's only reachable source of help, South Georgia, was a mere speck in the ocean, 800 miles distant.
By the late 1950s, BMI was jokingly referred to in the industry as Big Money Incorporated, Eliot said in "Rockonomics." Today, the two companies compete on almost an even keel, Eliot said.
The vessel is 10 yards long, three yards wide and about two yards high from keel to deck.
He had been earning Pounds 8,000 a year as museum head, supplementing a similar-sized Army pension. The museum is back on an even keel in spite of the recession which has cut customers.
Six crew members of the freighter Corazon drowned after the ship's keel snapped about 350 miles off Cape Cod. Twenty-one others were rescued by commercial ships providing lifeboats and rafts, the Coast Guard said.
Traders hailed the gain as a signal that the stock market is getting back on an even keel.
He contended that the latest batch of government reports show "a renewed firming of economic activity," and thus that Fed policy will "remain on an even keel, perhaps for the next month or two."