turnkey
3
9.9
- noun
- /ˈtɜrnki/
- Archaic
:
carcelero
- Additionally, all prison employees charged various rates for their services, from the clerks who kept the records and the turnkeys who locked the gates to the warden who oversaw the entire operation.
Examples
-
"I will have the turnkey make us some coffee."
Fiction book (1998) -
This is my brother, Manuel, turnkey at the prison.
-
I bought this job of turnkey to be here near my mother.
-
Have you seen the turnkey, Padre?
-
At several checkpoints along the way, we stopped while guards known as turnkeys opened the steel gates that were strategically placed throughout the facility.
Academic text (2005) -
The turnkey closed the cell door and checked the lock carefully.
-
In the old jail, the turnkey was responsible for overseeing the inmates during the day.
-
Each turnkey had to ensure that all prisoners were accounted for during roll call.
Synonyms
26
2.5
A person who watches prisoners in a jail or prison
19
3.0
A person who guards prisoners in a jail or prison
4
7.4
A person who guards prisoners in a prison
3
9.9
A person who watches prisoners in a jail
2
4.2
A person who guards prisoners in a jail
1
4.4
A person who guards and manages people in a jail or prison
An old word for a person who guards prisoners in a jail or prison
A person who holds keys and opens or locks a building
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Turnkey began as a name for the jail worker who kept and turned the key to cell doors, literally the person who 'turned the key'. So a turnkey once meant the guard in charge of locking and watching prisoners.