Coffee has initially been a food – chewed, not sipped. Early African tribes consume coffee by grinding the berries together, adding some animal fat, and rolling the treats into tiny edible energy balls.
KEEN
keen
(adjective) having a sharp cutting edge or point; “a keen blade”
cutting, keen, knifelike, piercing, stabbing, lancinate, lancinating
(adjective) painful as if caused by a sharp instrument; “a cutting wind”; “keen winds”; “knifelike cold”; “piercing knifelike pains”; “piercing cold”; “piercing criticism”; “a stabbing pain”; “lancinating pain”
bully, bang-up, corking, cracking, dandy, great, groovy, keen, neat, nifty, not bad, peachy, slap-up, swell, smashing, old
(adjective) very good; “he did a bully job”; “a neat sports car”; “had a great time at the party”; “you look simply smashing”; “we had a grand old time”
exquisite, keen
(adjective) intense or sharp; “suffered exquisite pain”; “felt exquisite pleasure”
acute, discriminating, incisive, keen, knifelike, penetrating, penetrative, piercing, sharp
(adjective) having or demonstrating ability to recognize or draw fine distinctions; “an acute observer of politics and politicians”; “incisive comments”; “icy knifelike reasoning”; “as sharp and incisive as the stroke of a fang”; “penetrating insight”; “frequent penetrative observations”
keen
(noun) a funeral lament sung with loud wailing
lament, keen
(verb) express grief verbally; “we lamented the death of the child”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Proper noun
Keen (plural Keens)
A surname.
Statistics
• According to the 2010 United States Census, Keen is the 1959th most common surname in the United States, belonging to 18459 individuals. Keen is most common among White (89.64%) individuals.
Anagrams
• Enke, kene, knee, kène, neek
Etymology 1
Adjective
keen (comparative keener or more keen, superlative keenest or most keen)
(chiefly, Commonwealth) Often with a prepositional phrase, or with to and an infinitive: showing a quick and ardent responsiveness or willingness; eager, enthusiastic, interested.
Fierce, intense, vehement.
Having a fine edge or point; sharp.
Acute of mind, having or expressing mental acuteness; penetrating, sharp.
Acrimonious, bitter, piercing.
Of cold, wind, etc.: cutting, penetrating, piercing, sharp.
(Britain) Of prices, extremely low as to be competitive.
(US, informal, dated) Marvelous.
(obsolete) Brave, courageous; audacious, bold.
Usage notes
Keen is often used to create compounds, the meaning of most of them being fairly obvious, for example, keen-edged, keen-eyed, keen-sighted, keen-witted, etc.
Synonyms
• (showing a quick and ardent responsiveness or willingness): ardent, eager, prompt
• (having a fine edge or point): sharp
• (acrimonious): biting, cutting, piercing
• (acute of mind): acute, penetrating, shrewd; see also intelligent
Verb
keen (third-person singular simple present keens, present participle keening, simple past and past participle keened)
(transitive, rare) To make cold, to sharpen.
Etymology 2
Noun
keen (plural keens)
A prolonged wail for a deceased person.
Verb
keen (third-person singular simple present keens, present participle keening, simple past and past participle keened)
(intransitive) To utter a keen.
(transitive) To utter with a loud wailing voice or wordless cry.
(transitive) To mourn.
Anagrams
• Enke, kene, knee, kène, neek
Source: Wiktionary
Keen, a. [Compar. Keener; superl. Keenest.] Etym: [OE. kene sharp, bold, AS.c bold; akin to D. koen, OHG. kuoni, G. kühn, OSw. kyn, kön, Icel. kænn, for koenn wise; perh. akin to E. ken, can to be able.
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. Chaucer. That my keen knife see not the wound it makes. Shak.
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. Shak. Before the keen inquiry of her thought. Cowper.
3. Bitter; piercing; acrimonious; cutting; stinging; severe; as, keen satire or sarcasm. Good father cardinal, cry thou amen To my keen curses. Shak.
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. Goldsmith.
5. Eager; vehement; fierce; as, a keen appetite. "Of full kene will." Piers Plowman. So keen and greedy to confound a man. Shak.
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.
Syn.
– Prompt; eager; ardent; sharp; acute; cutting; penetrating; biting; severe; sarcastic; satirical; piercing; shrewd.
Keen, v. t.
Definition: To sharpen; to make cold. [R.] Cold winter keens the brightening flood. Thomson.
Keen, n. Etym: [Ir. caoine.]
Definition: A prolonged wail for a deceased person. Cf. Coranach. [Ireland] Froude.
Keen, v. i.
Definition: To wail as a keener does. [Ireland]
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Recent Word Finds
Word of the Day
25 April 2024
TYPIFY
(verb) embody the essential characteristics of or be a typical example of; “The fugue typifies Bach’s style of composition”
Coffee Trivia
