off keel
English
editEtymology
editPrepositional phrase
edit- Out of balance, tilting to one side. (of a watercraft, etc.)
- 1896, William Sharp, Boston: Lamson, Wolffe & Col, Chapter 4, p. 78,[1]
- The tide was full and the dingey was off keel. The punt nosed the pebbly slope like a terrier, but her stern swung clear.
- 1906, Arthur Wesselhoeft Stevens, chapter 1, in Practical Rowing with Scull and Sweep[2], Boston: Little, Brown & Co., page 10:
- […] at the finish the boat is moving faster, and the blade must be taken out more sharply if it is to avoid pulling the boat off keel.
- 1946 June, Ross Rocklynne, “The Bottled Men”, in Astounding Science-Fiction, volume 37, number 4, page 89:
- At any rate, Gull had done a hurried repair job on the ship, for it was traveling with the labored toil of an old man walking uphill. It was off-keel. The body of the ship leaned at an angle to the line of flight.
- 1896, William Sharp, Boston: Lamson, Wolffe & Col, Chapter 4, p. 78,[1]
- (figuratively) Out of control, not proceeding or running smoothly.
- 1960, Brian Moore, chapter 1, in The Luck of Ginger Coffey[3], Boston: Little, Brown & Co., page 4:
- The lower half of a duplex apartment on a shabby Montreal street, dark as limbo, jerry-built fifty years ago and going off keel ever since.
- 1998 November 8, Linda Greenhouse, “Horse Sense”, in The New York Times Magazine:
- I’ve learned the lesson that the worst thing that can happen to a gambler is to let his recent losses or wins knock him off keel emotionally.
- 2002 January 31, Bob Woodward, Dan Balz, “At Camp David, Advise and Dissent”, in The Washington Post:
- Attorney General John D. Ashcroft provided an update to the group on his efforts to develop a legislative package to expand the powers of law enforcement to fight terrorism. He outlined a two-phase strategy, aimed first at “immediate disruption and prevention of terrorism” and followed by longer-term efforts to put terrorists “off keel.”