off keel

From off + keel.

off keel

1. Out of balance, tilting to one side. (of a watercraft, etc.)
   • 1896, William Sharp, Boston: Lamson, Wolffe & Col, Chapter 4, p. 78,

     The tide was full and the dingey was off keel. The punt nosed the pebbly slope like a terrier, but her stern swung clear.

   • 1906, Arthur Wesselhoeft Stevens, chapter 1, in Practical Rowing with Scull and Sweep‎, Boston: Little, Brown & Co., page 10:

     […] at the finish the boat is moving faster, and the blade must be taken out more sharply if it is to avoid pulling the boat off keel.

   • 1946 June, Ross Rocklynne, “The Bottled Men”, in Astounding Science-Fiction, volume 37, number 4, page 89:

     At any rate, Gull had done a hurried repair job on the ship, for it was traveling with the labored toil of an old man walking uphill. It was off-keel. The body of the ship leaned at an angle to the line of flight.

2. (figuratively) Out of control, not proceeding or running smoothly.
   • 1960, Brian Moore, chapter 1, in The Luck of Ginger Coffey‎, Boston: Little, Brown & Co., page 4:

     The lower half of a duplex apartment on a shabby Montreal street, dark as limbo, jerry-built fifty years ago and going off keel ever since.

   • 1998 November 8, Linda Greenhouse, “Horse Sense”, in The New York Times Magazine:

     I’ve learned the lesson that the worst thing that can happen to a gambler is to let his recent losses or wins knock him off keel emotionally.

   • 2002 January 31, Bob Woodward, Dan Balz, “At Camp David, Advise and Dissent”, in The Washington Post:

     Attorney General John D. Ashcroft provided an update to the group on his efforts to develop a legislative package to expand the powers of law enforcement to fight terrorism. He outlined a two-phase strategy, aimed first at “immediate disruption and prevention of terrorism” and followed by longer-term efforts to put terrorists “off keel.”

• on keel