Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Keen

Keen (kēn), a. [Compar. Keener (-ẽr); superl. Keenest.] [OE. kene sharp, bold, AS. cēne bold; akin to D. koen, OHG. kuoni, G. kühn, OSw. kyn, kön, Icel. kænn, for kœnn wise; perh. akin to E. ken, can to be able. √45. ] 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.

☞ 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. To sharpen; to make cold. [R.]

Cold winter keens the brightening flood. Thomson.

Keen, n. [Ir. caoine.] A prolonged wail for a deceased person. Cf. Coranach. [Ireland] Froude.

Keen, v. i. To wail as a keener does. [Ireland]

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.