kelp
noun
- order of brown algae
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /kɛlp/
noun
Etymology: From Middle English kelpe, kylpe, from Old Norse kilpr (“the handle of a vessel, loop”). Related to Old Norse kelpa (“otter trap”).
- A hook or crook by which a pot is hung over a fire.
- A sheath.
verb
Etymology: Inherited from Middle English *kelpe, culpe, *kilpe (Early Modern English kilpe), of unclear origin, though the attested forms point to Old English *cylp, possibly from Proto-West Germanic *kulpi, from Proto-Germanic *kulpiz (“lump, boll”, referencing the airsacks of species such as bladderwrack and knotweed), potentially a substrate term connected to Latin globus (“globe”) and Proto-Germanic *klumpô (“clump”). If the above theory is accepted, cognate with Low German Kulp, Külp, Kulpe (“lump in the eye, ball, thick nose”), Norwegian Nynorsk kulp (“short tube”), and Swedish kulp (“stout person”); further compare Bavarian Kolpel (“lump of stone”), Icelandic kúlpa (“to protrude”), Low German kulpen, külpen (“to pile up”), Low German Kulpogen (“large eye”), and West Frisian kolpje (“to pout”).
- To gather kelp.
“Just before we reached Seward the pilot got a radio message that a fishing boat in Thumb Cove had some kelp […] Neither of us had ever kelped before but there wasn't much to it, and we started bringing in full boxes back to Eads' barge.”