key
- noun
- /ki/
- She forgot her key and couldn't get into the house.
- turn the key
- open with a key
- lock and key
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Watch on YouTubeSo I had the keys to the pool.
- So I had the keys to the pool.
- I could not get on with car keys, laptops, TV's.
- But there are those who have keys, and those keys can open the prisons.
- You don't use a key because the lock is busted.
- There are more words on the hotel key than there are in that book.
- It was just dropping off someone's keys that they left in the Uber.
- Voila, their car keys are in their pocket.
- You just were given the keys to that.
- And there is only one entrance key to the void which binds.
Examples
-
Books were kept under lock and key, sometimes chained to shelves.
Academic text (2015) -
So I just walked out without my keys and I'm now locked out.
-
I just need to find the key to the lock.
-
Give me my key, please.
-
The door of the room was locked, and he took his key out and opened it.
Fiction book (1990) -
Sidney, do you still keep your key under the mat?
-
And then I have my little key for my PO Box.
-
Her father had another key made to the archive room and gave it to her solemnly.
Fiction book (1990) -
Here are your keys.
-
"Nope," Richard says and displays the car keys he lifted from Jeff's pocket.
Fiction book (1990)
Idioms
Compounds
- Specialized
A key on Apple keyboards that you press with other keys to use shortcuts
- Archaic
A small lever device used to send messages as dots and dashes by making and breaking an electric circuit
- Specialized
A key on a computer keyboard that you press with other keys to do special actions
- Specialized
A key on a keyboard that moves the cursor to the right to indent or align text
- Archaic
A small metal key with a square hole used to wind old pocket devices that tell time
- Specialized
A secret password that lets someone get into many accounts or systems
- Specialized
A set of sharps or flats at the start of written music showing its key
A repeating decorative border made from one continuous line that forms square corners
- Specialized
A secure place on a computer that stores passwords and secret codes for apps and the system
A repeated decorative border of straight lines that turn in square corners, often on vases and buildings
- Specialized
A winged fruit from maple or ash trees with one seed that spins as it falls
- Specialized
A small metal tool with a six-sided end for turning screws with a matching hole
- Specialized
A small metal tool with a six-sided tip that turns screws with a six-sided hole in the head
How Universal
Surface Forms
Etymology
Key comes from an old English word cæg for the small metal tool used to open locks, so a key is literally something that 'opens' a lock.