KEEL

(Probably from the Gr. xoike;, hollow.) The principal piece of Jimber in a ship, usually first laid on the blocks in buiid»ng. If we compare the body of a ship to the human skeleton, the keel seems to resemble the back bone, and the timbers the ribs. It is generally composed of several thick pieces of wood placed lengthways, which after being scarfed together, are bolted and clenched upon the upper side. — Keelage signifies the duty paid by a ship on coming into port. Keel. In Botany, a name applied in a figurative sense to the two lowest petals of a Papilionaceous corolla, which, to get lier, have some resemblance to the keel of a boat. [s. 638]