KEEN • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Keen

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adjective

Keen adj. (compar. keener; superl. keenest)

1.

Sharp; having a fine edge or point; as, a keen razor, or a razor with a keen edge. "A bow he bare and arwes (arrows) bright and kene." "That my keen knife see not the wound it makes."

2.

Acute of mind; sharp; penetrating; having or expressing mental acuteness; as, a man of keen understanding; a keen look; keen features. "To make our wits more keen." "Before the keen inquiry of her thought."

3.

Bitter; piercing; acrimonious; cutting; stinging; severe; as, keen satire or sarcasm. "Good father cardinal, cry thou amen To my keen curses."

4.

Piercing; penetrating; cutting; sharp; applied to cold, wind, etc.; as, a keen wind; the cold is very keen. "Breasts the keen air, and carols as he goes."

5.

Eager; vehement; fierce; as, a keen appetite. "Of full kene will." "So keen and greedy to confound a man."

6.

Wonderful; delightful; marvelous; as, that would be keen. (slang) Note: Keen is often used in the composition of words, most of which are of obvious signification; as, keen-edged, keen-eyed, keen-sighted, keen-witted, etc.

Synonyms: Prompt; eager; ardent; sharp; acute; cutting; penetrating; biting; severe; sarcastic; satirical; piercing; shrewd.

verb

Keen v. t. To sharpen; to make cold. (R.) "Cold winter keens the brightening flood."

Keen v. i. To wail as a keener does. (Ireland)

noun

Keen n. A prolonged wail for a deceased person. Cf. Coranach. (Ireland)

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Etymology of 'Keen'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Keen" Quotes from Famous Books

... sculptor was Sid Norman, for, without lifting a hand, or using any other tool than a keen eye and a sharp tongue, he had wrought out before him, carved as in cold marble, the statue of a beautiful, bad woman. Such is genius. ...

— Continental Monthly, Vol. I. February, 1862, No. II. - Devoted To Literature And National Policy • Various

... came, anxious and flurried, for already he had heard some rumour of what had chanced. His keen eyes went from me to my mother and ...

— The Strolling Saint • Raphael Sabatini

... sufficient; and therefore he resolv'd to try a shorter path, which some few men had trod not unsuccessfully; that is, to print a Book; if that would not do, a second; if not that, a third of an higher extraction, and so forward, to give experiment against their former party of a keen stile and a ductile judgment. His first proof-piece was in the year 1665, the Tentamina Physico-Theologica; a tedious transcript of his common-place book, wherein there is very little of his own, but the arrogance ...

— Andrew Marvell • Augustine Birrell

... Michael from the Armory of God Was given him tempered so, that neither keen Nor solid might resist that Edge: It met The Sword of Satan, with steep Force to smite Descending, ...

— The Spectator, Volumes 1, 2 and 3 - With Translations and Index for the Series • Joseph Addison and Richard Steele

... the odd name of Pansie, and whether it was really her baptismal name, I have not ascertained. More probably it was one of those pet appellations that grow out of a child's character, or out of some keen thrill of affection in the parents, an unsought-for and unconscious felicity, a kind of revelation, teaching them the true name by which the child's guardian angel would know it,—a name with playfulness and love in it, that we often observe to supersede, in the practice of those ...

— The Dolliver Romance • Nathaniel Hawthorne

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