kevil

See also: Kevil

English

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

kevil (plural kevils)

1. (Scotland) A lot (object used to determine a question by chance or independently of human choice).
   • 1821 [1802], 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.

2. (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.