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→‎Adjective: #* '''2007''', Mark H. Moss, ''Shopping as an Entertainment Experience'' (page 46) #*: Lukas intimates that one of Disney's '''key''' attractions was "Main Street USA,” which "mimicked a downtown business district just as Southdale" had
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Revision as of 00:17, 12 August 2014

English

A key (object designed to open and close a lock)
A numeric keypad with 16 keys
The keys of a musical keyboard.

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle English (deprecated template usage) keye, (deprecated template usage) kaye, (deprecated template usage) keiȝe, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old English cǣġ, cǣġe, cǣga (“key, solution, experiment”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Germanic *kēgaz (“stake, post, pole”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Indo-European *ǵogh-, *ǵegh- (“branch, stake, bush”), related to (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old English cǣggian (“to lock, shut”). Cognate with (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Scots (deprecated template usage) key, (deprecated template usage) kay, (deprecated template usage) [etyl] West Frisian (deprecated template usage) kaai, (deprecated template usage) [etyl] North Frisian (deprecated template usage) kay, (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle Low German kāk (“whipping post, pillory”), and perhaps to (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle Dutch (deprecated template usage) keige, (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle Low German (deprecated template usage) keie, (deprecated template usage) keige. For the semantic development, note that medieval keys were simply long poles (ending in a hook) with which a crossbar obstructing a door from the inside could be removed from the outside, by lifting it through a hole in the door.

Noun

key (plural keys)

  1. An object designed to open and close a lock.
    • Lua error in Module:quote at line 2959: Parameter 1 is required.
  2. An object designed to fit between two other objects (such as a shaft and a wheel) in a mechanism and maintain their relative orientation.
  3. A crucial step or requirement.
    The key to solving this problem is persistence.
    the key to winning a game
    • John Locke (1632-1705)
      Those who are accustomed to reason have got the true key of books.
    • Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892)
      who keeps the keys of all the creeds
  4. A guide explaining the symbols or terminology of a map or chart; a legend.
    The key says that A stands for the accounting department.
  5. A guide to the correct answers of a worksheet or test.
    Some students cheated by using the answer key.
  6. (computing) One of several small, usually square buttons on a typewriter or computer keyboard, mostly corresponding to text characters.
    Press the Escape key.
  7. (music) One of a number of rectangular moving parts on a piano or musical keyboard, each causing a particular sound or note to be produced.
  8. (music) One of various levers on a musical instrument used to select notes, such as a lever opening a hole on a woodwind.
  9. (music) A hierarchical scale of musical notes on which a composition is based.
    the key of B-flat major
    • 1881, R.L. Stevenson, Virginibus Puerisque:
      A girl, it is true, has always lived in a glass house among reproving relatives, whose word was law; she has been bred up to sacrifice her judgments and take the key submissively from dear papa; and it is wonderful how swiftly she can change her tune into the husband's.
  10. (figurative) The general pitch or tone of a sentence or utterance.
  11. (botany) An indehiscent, one-seeded fruit furnished with a wing, such as the fruit of the ash and maple; a samara.
  12. (historical) A manual electrical switching device primarily used for the transmission of Morse code.
  13. (cryptography) A piece of information (e.g. a passphrase) used to encode or decode a message or messages.
  14. (Internet) A password restricting access to an IRC channel.
    • 2000, "Robert Erdec", Re: Help; mIRC32; unable to resolve server arnes.si (on newsgroup alt.irc.mirc)
      if you know someone who is in the channel, you can query them and ask for the key.
  15. (computing) In a relational database, a field used as an index into another table (not necessarily unique).
  16. (computing) A value that uniquely identifies an entry in an associative array.
  17. (basketball) The free-throw lane together with the circle surrounding the free-throw line, the free-throw lane having formerly been narrower, giving the area the shape of a skeleton key hole.
    He shoots from the top of the key.
  18. (biology) A series of logically organized groups of discriminating information which aims to allow the user to correctly identify a taxon.
  19. (slang) Kilogram (though this is more commonly shortened to kay).
    • 2010, David J. Silas, Da Block (page 41)
      So starting with ten keys of cocaine and two keys of heroin, Derrick put his plan in motion. Soon every major drug dealer and gang chief from Chicago Avenue to Evanston was in his pocket.
  20. (architecture) A piece of wood used as a wedge.
  21. (architecture) The last board of a floor when laid down.
  22. (masonry) A keystone.
  23. That part of the plastering which is forced through between the laths and holds the rest in place.
  24. (deprecated template usage) (rail transport) A wooden support for a rail on the bullhead rail system.
  25. (heraldry) The object used to open or close a lock, often used as a heraldic charge.
    The coat of arms of Regensburg is gules two keys in saltire argent.
Derived terms
Derived terms

Template:rel-mid

Translations
computing: value uniquely identifying entry in associative array
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
See also

Adjective

key (comparative more key, superlative most key)

  1. Indispensable, supremely important.
    He is the key player on his soccer team.
    • 2007, Mark H. Moss, Shopping as an Entertainment Experience (page 46)
      Lukas intimates that one of Disney's key attractions was "Main Street USA,” which "mimicked a downtown business district just as Southdale" had done.
  2. Important, salient.
    She makes several key points.
Usage notes

The first meaning is distinguished by the definite article, as seen in the quotations.

Translations

Verb

key (third-person singular simple present keys, present participle keying, simple past and past participle keyed)

  1. To fit (a lock) with a key.
  2. To fit (pieces of a mechanical assembly) with a key to maintain the orientation between them.
  3. To mark or indicate with a symbol indicating membership in a class.
    • 1996 January, Garden Dsign Ideas, second printing, Taunton Press, ISBN 1561580791, page 25,
      So I worked on a tissue-paper copy of the perimeter plan, outlining groupings of plants of the same species and keying them with letters for the species.
    • 2001, Bruce M. Metzger, The Bible in Translation, ISBN 0801022827, page 87,
      The volume closes with thirty pages of "Notes, critical and explanatory," in which Thomson provides seventy-six longer or shorter notes keyed to specific sections of the synopsis.
    • 2002, Karen Bromley, Stretching Students' Vocabulary, ISBN 0439288398, page 12,
      Talk about similarities between the words and write them below to the left of the anchor, keying them with a plus sign (+). Talk about the characteristics that set the words apart and list them below the box to the right, keying them with a tilde sign (~).
    • 2007, Stephen Blake Mettee, Michelle Doland, and Doris Hall, compilers, The American Directory of Writer's Guidelines, 6th ("2007–2008") edition, ISBN 1884956580, page 757,
      Indicate the comparative value of each heading by keying it with a number in pencil, in the left margin, as follows: […]
  4. (deprecated template usage) (telegraphy and radio telegraphy) To depress (a telegraph key).
  5. (deprecated template usage) (radio) To operate (the transmitter switch of a two-way radio).
  6. (deprecated template usage) (computing) (more usually to key in) To enter (information) by typing on a keyboard or keypad.
    Our instructor told us to key in our user IDs.
  7. (deprecated template usage) (colloquial) To vandalize (a car, etc.) by scratching with an implement such as a key.
    He keyed the car that had taken his parking spot.
  8. To link (as one might do with a key or legend).
    • 1960, Richard L. Masland, "Classification of the Epilepsies", in Epilepsia, volume 1, page 516,
      The American Heart Association has prepared their own guide to classification and, keying it with the Standard Nomenclature of Diseases, have done much to encourage a concise yet complete diagnosis.
    • Lua error in Module:languages/errorGetBy at line 16: Please specify a language or etymology language code; the value "1976" is not valid (see Wiktionary:List of languages).
    • Lua error in Module:languages/errorGetBy at line 16: Please specify a language or etymology language code; the value "2006" is not valid (see Wiktionary:List of languages).
  9. (deprecated template usage) (intransitive, biology, chiefly taxonomy) To be identified as a certain taxon when using a key.
  10. To fasten or secure firmly; to fasten or tighten with keys or wedges.
    (Can we [[:Category:Requests for quotations/{{{2}}}|find and add]] a quotation of {{{2}}} to this entry?)Lua error in Module:parameters at line 348: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "Francis" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E.
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 2

Variant of cay, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Spanish (deprecated template usage) cayo.

Alternative forms

Noun

key (plural keys)

  1. One of a string of small islands.
    "the Florida Keys"
Translations

Anagrams

Etymology 3

Noun

key (plural keys)

  1. (deprecated use of |lang= parameter) Alternative form of quay

Kurdish

Adverb

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  1. (deprecated template usage) Lua error in Module:parameters at line 348: Parameter "lang" should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "ku" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. when

Manx

Noun

key m (genitive singular [please provide], plural [please provide])

  1. cream

Mutation

Template:gv mut cons

Derived terms

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