Word.ws English Dictionary

keelie

/ˈkiːli/UK/ˈkiːli/

keelie noun: a sparrowhawk or kestrel.

Noun (1)

keelie (plural keelies)

  1. (Northern England, Scotland) A sparrowhawk or kestrel.
  2. (Northern England, Scotland) A common or violent urban youth.
    • That was what she said if it was Glasgow people, Oh they are just keelies.2008, James Kelman, Kieron Smith, Boy, Penguin, published 2009, page 64

Adjective capitalized: Keelie

Keelie (comparative more Keelie, superlative most Keelie)

  1. Of or from Glasgow

Noun (2) capitalized: Keelie

Keelie (plural Keelies)

  1. Someone from Glasgow

Forms of keelie

Noun
pluralkeelies
pluralKeelies
Adjective
comparativemore Keelie
superlativemost Keelie

Origin of keelie

Imitative.

Questions about keelie

What does keelie mean?
Keelie means a sparrowhawk or kestrel.
What part of speech is keelie?
Keelie can be a noun or an adjective.
How do you pronounce keelie?
Keelie is pronounced /ˈkiːli/ (UK).
What is the plural of keelie?
The plural of keelie is keelies.

Words near keelie in the dictionary

  1. keelhaul
  2. keelhauled
  3. keelhauling
  4. keelhaulings
  5. keelhauls
  6. keelie
  7. keelies
  8. Keelin
  9. keeling
  10. Keeling curve
  11. Keeling Islander

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: keelie (page history and authors); Keelie (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “keelie.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/keelie. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.