keelhaul
verb/ˈkiːlhɔːl/
/ˈkiːlhɔːl/
Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they keelhaul | /ˈkiːlhɔːl/ /ˈkiːlhɔːl/ |
| he / she / it keelhauls | /ˈkiːlhɔːlz/ /ˈkiːlhɔːlz/ |
| past simple keelhauled | /ˈkiːlhɔːld/ /ˈkiːlhɔːld/ |
| past participle keelhauled | /ˈkiːlhɔːld/ /ˈkiːlhɔːld/ |
| -ing form keelhauling | /ˈkiːlhɔːlɪŋ/ /ˈkiːlhɔːlɪŋ/ |
- keelhaul somebody (old use) to punish a sailor by pulling him under a ship, from one side to the other or from one end to the other
Want to learn more?
Find out which words work together and produce more natural sounding English with the Oxford Collocations Dictionary app.
- keelhaul somebody (humorous) to punish somebody very severely or speak very angrily to somebody
Word Originmid 17th cent.: from Dutch kielhalen.
Check pronunciation:
keelhaul