1. keel - Noun
2. keel - Verb
To cool; to skim or stir.
A brewer's cooling vat; a keelfat.
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.
Fig.: The whole ship.
A barge or lighter, used on the Type for carrying coal from Newcastle; also, a barge load of coal, twenty-one tons, four cwt.
The two lowest petals of the corolla of a papilionaceous flower, united and inclosing the stamens and pistil; a carina. See Carina.
A projecting ridge along the middle of a flat or curved surface.
Source: Webster's dictionaryThe winds were blowing from west to east, pushing Abby's boat toward the rocks as Abby struggled with the autopilots below. If Wild Eyes reached those islands, she wouldn't run aground, keel in the sand. She would be smashed into pieces. Abby Sunderland
Melancholy and remorse form the deep leaden keel which enables us to sail into the wind of reality; we run aground sooner than the flat-bottomed pleasure-lovers but we venture out in weather that would sink them and we choose our direction. Cyril Connolly
Give me a spirit that on this life's rough sea Loves t'have his sails filled with a lusty wind, Even till his sail-yards tremble, his masts crack, And his ship run on her side so low That she drinks water, and her keel plows air. George Chapman
Before every performance, I think I am about to keel over. Brenda Blethyn
Artists are useful to society because they are so sensitive. They are supersensitive. They keel over like canaries in coal mines filled with poison gas, long before more robust types realize that any danger is there. Kurt Vonnegut
If all pulled in one direction, the world would keel over. Yiddish Proverb