Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A keel-shaped ridge or structure, such as that on the breastbone of a bird or of the fused lower two petals of flowers of many members of the pea family.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun [capitalized] In astronomy, one of the four parts into which the constellation Argo is divided. See Argo.
  • noun One of the vertical cross-bars on the septa of a coral.
  • noun In entomology, any keel-like elevation of the body-wall of an insect, as the pronotal carina of many grasshoppers.
  • noun pl. carinæ (-nē). [L., the keel of a boat: see careen.] A keel.
  • noun An intermediate piece, between the tergum and the scutum, of the multivalve carapace of a cirriped, as a barnacle or an acorn-shell. See cuts under Balanus and Lepas.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Bot.) A keel.
  • noun That part of a papilionaceous flower, consisting of two petals, commonly united, which incloses the organs of fructification.
  • noun A longitudinal ridge or projection like the keel of a boat.
  • noun (Zoöl.) The keel of the breastbone of birds.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A longitudinal ridge or projection like the keel of a boat.
  • noun botany Part of a papilionaceous flower consisting of two petals, commonly united, which encloses the organs of fructification.
  • noun zoology The keel of the breastbone of birds.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a keel-shaped constellation in the southern hemisphere; contains the start Canopus
  • noun any of various keel-shaped structures or ridges such as that on the breastbone of a bird or that formed by the fused petals of a pea blossom

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin carīna, keel; see kar- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin carina ("keel").

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Examples

Comments

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  • usage note on symphysis

    March 14, 2008

  • 'organs of fructification' sounds kinda naughty.

    July 26, 2017