Word.ws English Dictionary

keels over

keels over is the third-person singular simple present indicative of keel over.

Meaning of keel over

Verb

keel over (third-person singular simple present keels over, present participle keeling over, simple past and past participle keeled over)

  1. (also, figuratively, intransitive) Of a vessel: to roll so far on its side that it cannot recover; to capsize or turn turtle.
    • What a tiny little schooner! But is it not bold to spread both sails? And see, now that we have come round to the wind, how the skiff keels over.1844 May, Peter von Geist, “A Piscatorial Eclogue”, in The Knickerbocker, or New-York Monthly Magazine, volume XXIII, number 5, New York, N.Y.: Published by John Allen, Nassau-Street, →OCLC, page 462
  2. (idiomatic, intransitive) To collapse in a faint; to black out, to swoon.
    • We should all go inside before somebody keels over from the heat.
  3. (idiomatic, intransitive) To die.
    • The enemy had planted a piece of ordinance within gun-shot of the fort during the night, and the first thing in the morning they commenced a brisk cannonade, point-blank, against the spot where I was snoring. I turned out pretty smart, and mounted the rampart. The gun was charged again, a fellow...1834, David Crockett, chapter XIII, in A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett, of the State of Tennessee. Written by Himself, Philadelphia, Pa.: E[dward] L[awrence] Carey & A[braham] Hart; Boston...

Questions about keels over

What is keels over the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Keels over is the third-person singular simple present indicative of keel over.

Words near keels over in the dictionary

  1. keelivines
  2. keelless
  3. keelman
  4. keelmen
  5. keels
  6. keels over
  7. keelson
  8. keelsons
  9. Keelung
  10. keely
  11. Keelys

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: keels over (page history and authors); keel over (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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