[Vocabulary] keel-coloured

[Fagin]

"His coarser features, and cheaper habiliments; the keel-coloured "cowhide" clutched in his right hand, and flirted with such evident skill, proclaim him the overseer - and whipper up - of the swarthy pedestrians composing the _entourage_ of the train."

That's from Mayne Reid's "The Headless Horseman".

What colour is keel-coloured?

 

[emsr2d2]

I have no idea. Was there no mention of a "keel" before that?

 

[Fagin]

I have no idea. Was there no mention of a "keel" before that?

No there's no mention of any keels.
I tried a Google search and found one more use of this:

 

[emsr2d2]

Ah, that makes more sense. It's not "keel-coloured", it's "keel, coloured and streaked like ...".

http://plant-phytography.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/keel-sharp-central-ridge.html

"Keel" is used to describe a ridge in a leaf, so this "keel" was "coloured and streaked like ...".

The whole passage in the thumbnail refers to flowers etc, so if you look up the use of "keel" in "botany" you will find even more information.

 

[Fagin]

Ah, that makes more sense. It's not "keel-coloured", it's "keel, coloured and streaked like ...".

Yes you are definitely right. But what about this:

https://books.google.ru/books?id=oH...DoAQgaMAA#v=onepage&q="keel-coloured"&f=false

 

[emsr2d2]

Wow. I think you need someone who understands the contents of that link. I'm not that person!

 

[Skrej]

Merriam Webster lists this on definition #5:
chiefly dialect

• : red ocher

That seems to match up with mention of blood streaks and red coloring in the prior sentence of your source.

 

[Rover_KE]

Fagin, if you're going to quote from this book again, it might be helpful to mention its date of publication (1865).

 

[Fagin]

Merriam Webster lists this on definition #5:
chiefly dialect

• : red ocher

Thank you very much! And I already had a look at it in Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ochre

 

[jutfrank]

One of the things I have learnt today is that keels were once coloured red like the striae of expectorated sputum.

 

[Rover_KE]

Yes — not a lot of people know that.

 

[GoesStation]

Or care to.