Word.ws English Dictionary

kevel

kevel noun: a strong cleat to which large ropes are belayed. Also the alternative form of cavel.

Noun (1)

kevel (plural kevels)

  1. A strong cleat to which large ropes are belayed.
  2. A stonemason's hammer.

Noun (2)

kevel (plural kevels)

  1. A gazelle.
    • […] the pasan is the most frequent, then the corinne, which differs very little from the kevel, and the proper gazelle […]1827, Conrad Malte-Brun, A system of universal geography

Also used as

kevel is also the alternative form of cavel.

Forms of kevel

pluralkevels
alternative formkevil
alternative formcavel
alternative formcavil

Origin of kevel

From English dialect kevil, cavel (“rod, pole, a large hammer”), from Middle English kevel, *kavel (“a large stonemason's hammer”), from Old Norse kefli, kafli n (“a cylinder, stick, piece of wood”) and Old Norse kefli, kafli m (“a piece cut off, buoy, piece”). Compare Icelandic kefli (“cylinder, a stick, mangle”), and Danish kievle (“a roller”).

From Middle English kevel. More at cavel.

Questions about kevel

What does kevel mean?
Kevel means a strong cleat to which large ropes are belayed.
What part of speech is kevel?
Kevel is a noun.
What is the plural of kevel?
The plural of kevel is kevels.

Words near kevel in the dictionary

  1. kevalin
  2. kevalins
  3. Kevan
  4. Kevaughn
  5. kevazingo
  6. kevel
  7. kevels
  8. kevil
  9. kevils
  10. Kevin
  11. Kevin's Gate

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: kevel (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.

Last updated:

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