The Collaborative International Dictionary
Gazelle \Ga*zelle"\, n. [F. gazelle, OF. also, gazel; cf. Sp. gacela, Pr. gazella, It. gazella; all fr. Ar. ghaz?l a wild goat.] (Zo["o]l.) One of several small, swift, elegantly formed species of antelope, of the genus Gazella, esp. G. dorcas; -- called also algazel, corinne, korin, and kevel. The gazelles are celebrated for the luster and soft expression of their eyes. [Written also gazel.]
Note: The common species of Northern Africa ( Gazella dorcas); the Arabian gazelle, or ariel ( G. Arabica); the mohr of West Africa ( G. mohr); the Indian ( G. Bennetti); the ahu or Persian ( G. subgutturosa); and the springbok or tsebe ( G. euchore) of South Africa, are the best known.
Wiktionary
Etymology 1 n. 1 (context nautical English) A strong cleat to which large ropes are belayed. 2 A stonemason's hammer. Etymology 2
n. A gazelle.
Usage examples of "kevel".
I took a turn around a kevel and threw a couple of quick half-hitches.
Jack dropped all, scrambled forward, caught two turns round the kevel and slid back to the tiller.
We walked forward into the bows, and clearly made out the shape of a grapnel thick with shells, with its claws upon the bulwark rail of the half-ship alongside, and there was a line stretched between, belayed to what might have been a kevel on a stanchion of the craft we were in.
Approaching some of the strange shapes that had been revealed in the flicker of the lights, the shapes had gone away, receding and flattening into the kevel floor.