Definitions

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

  • adjective Having a fine, sharp cutting edge or point.
  • adjective Having or marked by intellectual quickness and acuity. synonym: sharp.
  • adjective Acutely sensitive.
  • adjective Sharp; vivid; strong.
  • adjective Intense or bracing.
  • adjective Pungent; acrid.
  • adjective Ardent; enthusiastic.
  • adjective Eagerly desirous.
  • adjective Slang Great; splendid; fine.
  • noun A loud wailing or lament for the dead.
  • intransitive verb To wail in lamentation, especially for the dead. synonym: cry.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To make keen or sharp; sharpen.
  • To chap, as the hands.
  • noun A loud lamentation made over the dead; a wailing.
  • To make a loud lamentation over the dead; lament; wail.
  • To wail over any loss, or in anticipation of loss.
  • noun The angle to which the wire tooth of card-clothing is bent between the foundation material and the point.
  • Bold; daring; brave; active: applied to men.
  • Grim; fierce; savage; rapacious: applied to wild animals.
  • Vehement; earnest; eager; ardent; fierce; animated by or showing strong feeling or desire: as, a keen fighter; to be keen at a bargain.
  • Such as to cut or penetrate easily; having a very sharp point or edge; sharp; acute: as, a keen edge.
  • Sharp or irritating to the body or the mind; acutely harsh or painful; biting; stinging; tingling.
  • Having a cutting or incisive character or effect; penetrating; vigorous; energetic; vivid; intense: as, keen eyes; a keen look; a keen rebuke; keen-witted.
  • Having or manifesting great mental acuteness; characterized by great quickness or penetration of thought; sharply perceptive: as, a keen logician or debater; keen insight.

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

  • intransitive verb Ireland To wail as a keener does.
  • transitive verb rare To sharpen; to make cold.
  • adjective Sharp; having a fine edge or point.
  • adjective Acute of mind; sharp; penetrating; having or expressing mental acuteness
  • adjective Bitter; piercing; acrimonious; cutting; stinging; severe.
  • adjective Piercing; penetrating; cutting; sharp; -- applied to cold, wind, etc.
  • adjective Eager; vehement; fierce.
  • adjective slang Wonderful; delightful; marvelous.
  • noun Ireland A prolonged wail for a deceased person. Cf. coranach.

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

  • noun A prolonged wail for a deceased person.
  • verb intransitive To utter a keen.
  • verb transitive To utter with a loud wailing voice or wordless cry.
  • verb transitive To mourn.
  • adjective showing a quick and ardent willingness or responsiveness, enthusiastic, eager; interested, intense.
  • adjective vehement; fierce; as, a keen appetite.
  • adjective sharp; having a fine edge or point.
  • adjective acute of mind; sharp; penetrating; having or expressing mental acuteness.
  • adjective bitter; piercing; acrimonious; cutting; stinging; severe; as, keen satire or sarcasm.
  • adjective piercing; penetrating; cutting; sharp; -- applied to cold, wind, etc,; as, a keen wind; the cold is very keen.
  • adjective Enthusiastic
  • adjective US, informal, dated Marvelous.
  • adjective UK extremely low as to be competitive.
  • adjective obsolete brave, courageous; bold, audacious.
  • verb transitive, rare To sharpen; to make cold.

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

  • adjective having a sharp cutting edge or point

Etymologies

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

[Middle English kene, from Old English cēne, brave.]

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

[From Irish Gaelic caoineadh, from caonim, I lament, from Old Irish caínim, coínim, perhaps of Brittonic origin.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English kene ("bold, brave, sharp"), from Old English cēne ("keen, fierce, bold, brave, warlike, powerful, learned, clever, wise"), from Proto-Germanic *kōniz (“knowledgeable, skillful, experienced, clever, capable”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵenə-, *ǵnō- (“to know”). Cognate with Scots keen ("lively, brisk, avaricious"), Dutch koen ("daring, valiant, doughty, courageous"), German kühn ("bold, daring, audacious, hardy, valiant, venturesome"), Danish køn ("handsome, pretty"), Icelandic kænn ("wise, crafty, clever, able"). Related to Old English cunnan ("to know how to, be able to"). More at cunning, can.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Irish caoin ("keen, weep, cry").

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Examples

  • At the same time she had not keen, she had only absorbing feelings of her rights; there was nothing _keen_ in lady Ann; neither sense nor desire, neither hope nor fear, neither joy nor sorrow, neither love nor hate.

    There & Back George MacDonald 1864

  • Japan's prime minister is expressing what he calls keen remorse and heartfelt apologies for his country's role in World War II.

    CNN Transcript Aug 15, 2005 2005

  • Thomas, who is not what I call keen about golf, preferred to remain before the fire.

    The Holiday Round 1919

  • It was still raining in torrents after lunch, and Thomas, who is not what I call keen about golf, preferred to remain before the fire.

    Happy Days 1919

  • "They've got what they call a keen sense of humour, you know."

    West Wind Drift George Barr McCutcheon 1897

  • We remain keen to support the successful introduction of HD services on the DTT platform and are willing to consider a further round of consultation on the licence amendment if you could provide more information and evidence in the following three areas:

    BBC's outrageous plan to put DRM on TV broadcasts shot down in flames -- thanks to you! - Boing Boing 2009

  • My first surprise was to find him described as a keen, all-round sportsman.

    My dad, the silent film star 2012

  • The party in keen to get Lib Dems blogging but it takes courage.

    BritBlog Roundup 2006

  • So keen is it to draw a parallel between the two periods that it shows a black-and-white photograph of a US tank in Saigon, artfully juxtaposed with a contemporary picture of an American tank in Baghdad.

    They can't help it Richard 2006

  • I have a certain keen sense of liberation, these days.

    The State of Canadian Capitalism: A Political View 1978

Comments

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  • the verb keen, meaning to wail as if in mourning, derives from the Irish word 'caoineadh'

    February 19, 2007

  • Sionnach, is caoineadh pronounced the same as the English word keen?

    October 18, 2007

  • c_b: Yes, modulo regional differences. It seems to me that the match would be closest in Ulster, whereas in Munster we would pronounce it closer to "queen".

    October 18, 2007