KEEL  , the bottom

timber or combination of plates of a ship or boat, extending longitudinally from bow to stern, and sup-porting the framework (see SHIP-BUILDING) . The origin of the word has been obscured by confusion of two words, the Old Norwegian kjole (cf . Swedish kol) and a Dutch and German kiel . The first had the meaning of the English " keel," the other of ship, boat . The modern usage in Dutch and German has approximated to the English . The word kiel is represented in old English by ceol, a word applied to the long war galleys of the Vikings, in which sense " keel " or " keele " is still used by archaeologists . On the Tyne " keel " is the name given to a flat-bottomed vessel used to carry coals to the colliers . There is another word " keel, " meaning to cool, familiar in Shakespeare (Love's Labour Lost, v. ii . 930), " while greasy Joan doth keel the pot," i.e. prevents a pot from boiling over by pouring in cold water, &c., stirring or skimming . This is from the Old English celan, to cool, a common Teutonic word, cf . German kiihlen .