In boats and ships, keel can refer to either of two parts: a structural element, or a hydrodynamic element. These parts overlap. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in construction of a ship, in British and American shipbuilding traditions the construction is dated from this event. Only the ship's launching is considered more significant in its creation.
The word can also be used to refer to a complete boat, as in keelboat or Humber keel.
Read more about Keel: Structural Keels, Etymology
Famous quotes containing the word keel:
“A land where all things always seemed the same!
And round about the keel with faces pale,
Dark faces pale against that rosy flame,
The mild-eyed melancholy Lotos-eaters came.”
—Alfred Tennyson (1809–1892)