KENTLEDGE GOODS. In lieu of ballast.

KENT-PURCHASE. A misspelling of _cant_-purchase, or one used to turn a
whale round during the operation of _flensing_.

KEPLER'S LAWS. Three famous laws of nature detected by Kepler early in
the seventeenth century:--1. The primary planets revolve about the sun
in ellipses, having that luminary in one of the foci. 2. The planets
describe about the sun equal areas in equal times. 3. The squares of the
periodic times of the planets are to each other as the cubes of their
mean distances from the sun.

KEPLING. _See_ CAPLIN.

KERFE. The furrow or slit made by the saw in dividing timber.

KERLANGUISHES. The swift-sailing boats of the Bosphorus. The name
signifies swallows.

KERMES. A little red gall, occasioned by the puncture of the _Coccus
ilicis_ on the leaves of the _Quercus coccifera_, or Kermes oak; an
article of commerce from Spain, used in dyeing.

KERNEL. Corrupted from _crenelle_; the holes in a battlement made for
the purpose of shooting arrows and small shot.

KERNES. Light-armed Irish foot soldiers of low degree, who cleared the
way for the heavy _gallow-glasses_.

KERS. An Anglo-Saxon word for water-cresses.

KERT. An old spelling for _chart_.

KERVEL. _See_ CARVEL.

KETCH. A vessel of the galliot order, equipped with two masts--viz. the
main and mizen masts--usually from 100 to 250 tons burden. Ketches were
principally used as yachts for conveying great personages from one place
to another. The peculiarity of this rig, affording so much space before
the main-mast, and at the greatest beam, caused them to be used for
mortar-vessels, hence--_Bomb-ketches_, which are built remarkably
strong, with a greater number of riders than any other vessel of war, as
requisite to sustain the violent shock produced by the discharge of
their mortars. (_See_ BOMB-VESSEL, MORTAR, and SHELL.)

KETERINS. Marauders who formerly infested the Irish coast and channel.

KETOS, OR CETUS. An ancient ship of large dimensions.

KETTLE. The brass or metal box of a compass.

KETTLE-BOTTOM. A name applied to a ship with a flat floor.

KETTLE-NET. A net used in taking mackerel.

KETTLE OF FISH. To have made a pretty kettle of fish of it, implies a
perplexity in judgment.

KEVEL-HEADS. The ends of the top timbers, which, rising above the
gunwale, serve to belay the ropes, or to be used as kevels.

KEVELING. A coast name for the skate.

KEVELS, OR CAVILS. Large cleats, or also piece