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Key   /ki/   Listen
Key

adjective
1.
Serving as an essential component.  Synonyms: cardinal, central, fundamental, primal.  "The central cause of the problem" , "An example that was fundamental to the argument" , "Computers are fundamental to modern industrial structure"
noun
1.
Metal device shaped in such a way that when it is inserted into the appropriate lock the lock's mechanism can be rotated.
2.
Something crucial for explaining.
3.
Pitch of the voice.
4.
Any of 24 major or minor diatonic scales that provide the tonal framework for a piece of music.  Synonym: tonality.
5.
A kilogram of a narcotic drug.
6.
A winged often one-seed indehiscent fruit as of the ash or elm or maple.  Synonyms: key fruit, samara.
7.
United States lawyer and poet who wrote a poem after witnessing the British attack on Baltimore during the War of 1812; the poem was later set to music and entitled 'The Star-Spangled Banner' (1779-1843).  Synonym: Francis Scott Key.
8.
A coral reef off the southern coast of Florida.  Synonyms: cay, Florida key.
9.
(basketball) a space (including the foul line) in front of the basket at each end of a basketball court; usually painted a different color from the rest of the court.  Synonym: paint.  "He dominates play in the paint"
10.
A list of answers to a test.
11.
A list of words or phrases that explain symbols or abbreviations.
12.
A generic term for any device whose possession entitles the holder to a means of access.
13.
Mechanical device used to wind another device that is driven by a spring (as a clock).  Synonym: winder.
14.
The central building block at the top of an arch or vault.  Synonyms: headstone, keystone.
15.
A lever (as in a keyboard) that actuates a mechanism when depressed.
verb
(past & past part. keved; pres. part. keying)
1.
Identify as in botany or biology, for example.  Synonyms: describe, discover, distinguish, identify, key out, name.
2.
Provide with a key.
3.
Vandalize a car by scratching the sides with a key.
4.
Regulate the musical pitch of.
5.
Harmonize with or adjust to.



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"Key" Quotes from Famous Books



... keeping such a man as Mr Dutton in his power, partly because he knows that the last shilling would be parted with rather than the child. It is a very unfortunate business, and I often fear will terminate badly.' The loud but indistinct wrangling without ceased after awhile, and I heard a key turn stiffly in a lock. 'The usual conclusion of these scenes,' said Mrs Rivers. 'Another draft upon his strong-box will purchase Mr Dutton a respite as long as the money lasts.' I could hardly look at James Dutton when ...
— Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 440 - Volume 17, New Series, June 5, 1852 • Various

... but a few seconds to turn the key in the lock, and to slip the heavy bolts. Then he was safe from ...
— Chatterbox, 1905. • Various

... the excellence or even for the purity of the wine, that it is kept in these cellars, under the lock and key of the government; for the merchants are allowed to mix different vintages, according to their own pleasure, and to adulterate it as they like. Very little of the wine probably comes out as it goes in, or is exactly what it pretends to be. I went back to Mr. ———'s office, ...
— Passages From the English Notebooks, Complete • Nathaniel Hawthorne

... wanting to decide them, this eminently practical barrel would have turned the scale. A bargain was promptly struck, the month's rent was paid upon the nail, and about an hour later Finsbury brothers might have been observed returning to the blighted cottage, having along with them the key, which was the symbol of their tenancy, a spirit-lamp, with which they fondly told themselves they would be able to cook, a pork pie of suitable dimensions, and a quart of the worst whisky in Hampshire. Nor was this all they had effected; already (under the plea that they were landscape-painters) ...
— The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 7 (of 25) • Robert Louis Stevenson

... this. [He points to the door on the right] There I shall take up my position and watch you while you are playing the game in here. But when you are done, we'll change parts: I'll enter the cage and do tricks with the snake while you stick to the key-hole. Then we meet in the park to compare notes. But keep your back stiff. And if you feel yourself weakening, knock twice on the floor with ...
— Plays by August Strindberg, Second series • August Strindberg


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