Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A timber or girder fastened above and parallel to the keel of a ship or boat for additional strength.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A line of jointed timbers in a ship laid on the middle of the floor-timbers over the keel, fastened with long bolts and clinched, thus binding the floor-timbers to the keel; in iron ships, a combination of plates corresponding to the keelson-timber of a wooden vessel. See cut under
keel . - noun In iron ship-building, a longitudinal reinforcement of plates and bars in the interior of the vessel above the framing in the bottom.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Shipbuilding) A piece of timber in a ship laid on the middle of the floor timbers over the keel, and binding the floor timbers to the keel; in iron vessels, a structure of plates, situated like the keelson of a timber ship.
- noun a similar structure lying athwart the main keelson, to support the engines and boilers.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun nautical A
longitudinal beam fastened on top of thekeel of a vessel for strength and stiffness.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a longitudinal beam connected to the keel of ship to strengthen it
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Before we recovered it we had nearly killed ourselves with exhaustion, and we certainly had strained the sloop in every part from keelson to truck.
SMALL-BOAT SAILING 2010
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We are going to place the keelson, and a dozen pair of hands would not be too many.
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Pencroft, descended to the dockyard, and proceeded to place the keelson, a thick mass of wood which forms the lower portion of a ship and unites firmly the timbers of the hull.
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We are going to place the keelson, and a dozen pair of hands would not be too many.
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Pencroft, descended to the dockyard, and proceeded to place the keelson, a thick mass of wood which forms the lower portion of a ship and unites firmly the timbers of the hull.
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Under the boiler and engine there was only room for one keelson.
The South Pole; an account of the Norwegian antarctic expedition in the 'Fram', 1910 to 1912 2003
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The keelson is also of pitch-pine, in two layers, one above the other; each layer
The South Pole; an account of the Norwegian antarctic expedition in the 'Fram', 1910 to 1912 2003
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In addition, there are under the beams three rows of vertical stanchions between decks, and one row in the lower hold from the keelson.
The South Pole; an account of the Norwegian antarctic expedition in the 'Fram', 1910 to 1912 2003
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A loose bottom was therefore laid a few inches above the lining on each side of the keelson.
The South Pole; an account of the Norwegian antarctic expedition in the 'Fram', 1910 to 1912 2003
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These are connected to the keelson, to the beams, and to each other by iron bands.
The South Pole; an account of the Norwegian antarctic expedition in the 'Fram', 1910 to 1912 2003
chained_bear commented on the word keelson
"...they had of course scoured the frigate from truck to keelson..."
--Patrick O'Brian, The Thirteen Gun Salute, 206
March 4, 2008
yarb commented on the word keelson
"We had better be going together over the ship, Captain," said the senior partner; and the three men started to view the perfections of the Nan-Shan from stem to stern, and from her keelson to the trucks of her two stumpy pole-masts.
- Conrad, Typhoon
March 26, 2008
bilby commented on the word keelson
What do we plant when we plant the tree?
We plant the ship which will cross the sea.
We plant the mast to carry the sails;
We plant the planks to withstand the gales -
The keel, the keelson, the beam, the knee;
We plant the ship when we plant the tree.
- Henry Abbey, 'What Do We Plant?'
November 12, 2008