noun fig.: the whole ship.
2. keel ·noun a brewer's cooling vat; a keelfat.
3. keel ·vi to turn up the keel; to show the bottom.
4. keel ·vi to traverse with a keel; to navigate.
5. keel ·noun a projecting ridge along the middle of a flat or curved surface.
6. keel ·vt & ·vi to cool; to skim or stir.
7. keel ·noun a barge or lighter, used on the type for carrying coal from newcastle; also, a barge load of coal, twenty-one tons, four cwt.
8. keel ·noun the two lowest petals of the corolla of a papilionaceous flower, united and inclosing the stamens and pistil; a carina. ·see carina.
9. keel ·add. ·noun 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.
10. keel ·noun 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.