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kevil. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
kevil, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
kevil in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
Etymology
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Noun
kevil (plural kevils)
- (Scotland) A lot (object used to determine a question by chance or independently of human choice).
- 1821 , Walter Scott (transcriber), Fause Foodrage, W. Scott (editor) Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, Volume 3, 5th edition, Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, page 4,
- And they cast kevils them amang, / And kevils them between; / And they cast kevils them amang, / Wha suld gae kill the king.
- 1887, Transactions of the Buchan Field Club, Volumes 1-2, Buchan Field Club, page 176,
- "Casting the kevils" was and still is a common mode of deciding a thing.
- (nautical) A sturdy belaying pin for the heavier cables of a ship.
- 1898, Annual Reports of the War Department, U.S. War Department, page 3184
- The following new ones will have to be supplied: Two pairs of sheave chocks similar to those now in use on board, and twelve large kevils at least four feet long and of heavy pattern.
1935, Walter Henry Johnston, Building a Little Ship:The halliard is belayed on the kevil with figure-of-eight turns (not hitched), and the coil is carried up to the pin-rail, where the 1-inch rope is passed round it, the eye at the end of this rope being finally passed over the pin.