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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



... chord somewhere in the slave's throat that trembled on the key of the heroic, and her nostrils, slightly rounded, her head, free of carriage as the wild colt's, and a light from her soft eyes that seemed to be reflected on their long, silken lashes, bore out a spirit tamed by servitude, which still could kindle to everything ...
— The Entailed Hat - Or, Patty Cannon's Times • George Alfred Townsend

... pharmacy. These symbolic signs were much commoner and very necessary when people generally were not able to read. It is from that period that we have the mortar and pestle as also the colored lights in the windows of the drug stores, and the many-colored barber-pole. Also the big boot, key, watch, hat, bonnet, and the like, the last symbolic sign invention apparently being the wooden Indian ...
— Old-Time Makers of Medicine • James J. Walsh

... as well as the other detectives. There was no sign of the jewelry store having been entered from the outside, so that if a stranger had come in he must have done so when the doors were unlocked or made a false key, or else he had forced a passage so skilfully as ...
— The Diamond Cross Mystery - Being a Somewhat Different Detective Story • Chester K. Steele

... to one or two of these talks. The girls sat in a semicircle, hardly breathing, their eyes filling with tears whenever Mlle. Thompson, who sat at a table at the head of the room, played on that particular key. ...
— The Living Present • Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton

... was offered his life on the usual conditions of apostasy. But he refused all overtures, saying: "Pues mi Dios por mi murio, yo quiero morir por el", a phrase which has a singular resemblance to the key note of this drama. Don Ortiz Calderon was eventually put to death with great cruelty, after some alternations of good and bad treatment. See "Descripcion, Armas, Origen, y Descendencia de la muy noble y antigua Casa de Calderon de la Barca", etc., que ...
— The Two Lovers of Heaven: Chrysanthus and Daria - A Drama of Early Christian Rome • Pedro Calderon de la Barca


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