AY. The force of steady motion through the water, continued
after the power which gave it has varied or diminished.

KEEPING THE SEA. The term formerly used when orders were issued for the
array of the inhabitants of the sea-coasts.

KEEP OFF. To fall to a distance from the shore, or a ship, &c. (_See_
OFFING.)

KEEP THE LAND ABOARD. Is to sail along it, or within sight, as much as
possible, or as close as danger will permit.

KEEP YOUR LUFF. An order to the helmsman to keep the ship close to the
wind, _i.e._ sailing with a course as near as possible to the direction
from which the wind is coming. (_See_ CLOSE-HAULED.)

KEG. A small cask, of no fixed contents. Used familiarly for taking
offence, as _to keg_, is to irritate.--_To carry the keg._ To continue;
originally a smuggler's phrase.

KEGGED. Feeling affronted or jeered at.

KELDS. The still parts of a river, which have an oily smoothness while
the rest of the water is ruffled.

KELF. The incision made in a tree by the axe when felling it.

KELING. A large kind of cod. Thus in Havelok:--

"Keling he tok, and tumberel,
Hering, and the makerel."

KELKS. The milt or roe of fish.

KELLAGH. The Erse term for a wooden anchor with a stone in it, but in
later times is applied to any grapnel or small anchor.

KELP. _Salsola kali_; the ashes produced by the combustion of various
marine algae, and used in obtaining iodine, soda, &c.

KELPIE. A mischievous sea-sprite, supposed to haunt the fords and
ferries of the northern coasts of Great Britain, especially in storms.

KELT. A salmon that has been spawning; a foul fish.

KELTER. Ships and men are said to be in prime kelter when in fine order
and well-rigged.

KEMP. An old term for a soldier, camper, or camp man. Also a kind of
eel.

KEMSTOCK. An old term for capstan.

KEN, TO. Ang.-Sax. descrying, as Shakspeare in _Henry VI._:--

"And far as I could ken thy chalky cliffs."

--_Ken_, a speck, a striking object or mark.

KENNETS. Large cleats. (_See_ KEVELS.) Also, a coarse Welsh cloth of
commerce; see statute 33 Henry VIII. c. 3.

KENNING BY KENNING. A mode of increasing wages formerly, according to
whaling law, by seeing how a man performed his duty.

KENNING-GLASS. A hand spy-glass or telescope.

KEN-SPECKLED. Conspicuous; having distinct marks.

KENTLEDGE. Pigs of iron cast for permanent ballast, laid over the
kelson-plates, or if in the limbers, then called limber-kentledge.