BILGE KEEL • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Bilge keel

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noun

Keel n.

(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.

Fig.: The whole ship.

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.)

(Bot.) The two lowest petals of the corolla of a papilionaceous flower, united and inclosing the stamens and pistil; a carina. See Carina.

(Nat. Hist.) A projecting ridge along the middle of a flat or curved surface.

(Aeronautics) 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.

Bilge keel (Naut.), a keel peculiar to ironclad vessels, extending only a portion of the length of the vessel under the bilges.

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.

On an even keel a. & adv., steady; balanced; steadily.

See images of 'Bilge keel'

Etymology of 'Bilge keel'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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