[kee] 
noun, plural keys, adjective, verb, keyed, key⋅ing.| 1. | a small metal instrument specially cut to fit into a lock and move its bolt. |
| 2. | any of various devices resembling or functioning as a key: the key of a clock. |
| 3. | key card. |
| 4. | something that affords a means of access: the key to happiness. |
| 5. | something that secures or controls entrance to a place: Gibraltar is the key to the Mediterranean. |
| 6. | something that affords a means of clarifying a problem. |
| 7. | a book, pamphlet, or other text containing the solutions or translations of material given elsewhere, as testing exercises. |
| 8. | a systematic explanation of abbreviations, symbols, etc., used in a dictionary, map, etc.: pronunciation key. Compare legend (def. 4). |
| 9. | the system, method, pattern, etc., used to decode or decipher a cryptogram, as a code book, machine setting, or key word. |
| 10. | one of a set of marked parts, designated areas, or levers pressed in operating a typewriter, computer terminal, calculator, etc. |
| 11. | a manually operated lever for opening and closing an electric circuit, used to produce signals in telegraphy. |
| 12. | Music.
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| 13. | tone or pitch, as of voice: to speak in a high key. |
| 14. | mood or characteristic style, as of expression or thought: He writes in a melancholy key. |
| 15. | degree of intensity, as of feeling or action. |
| 16. | a pin, bolt, wedge, or other piece inserted in a hole or space to lock or hold parts of a mechanism or structure together; a cotter. |
| 17. | a small piece of steel fitting into matching slots of a hub of a wheel or the like and the shaft on which the wheel is mounted so that torque is transmitted from one to the other. |
| 18. | a contrivance for grasping and turning a bolt, nut, etc. |
| 19. | Computers. a field or group of characters within a record that identifies the record, establishing its position among sorted records, and/or provides information about its contents. |
| 20. | (in a series of advertisements or announcements soliciting replies) a unique code inserted for each medium used, to determine the relative effectiveness of the media. |
| 21. | Electricity.
|
| 22. | Biology. a systematic tabular classification of the significant characteristics of the members of a group of organisms to facilitate identification and comparison. |
| 23. | Masonry. a keystone. |
| 24. | Architecture. (in a ribbed vault) a stone, as a boss, at the intersection of two or more ribs. |
| 25. | Masonry, Carpentry. a wedge, as for tightening a joint or splitting a stone or timber. |
| 26. | Carpentry. a small piece of wood set into a timber across the grain to prevent warping. |
| 27. | Building Trades. any grooving or roughness applied to a surface to improve its bond with another surface. |
| 28. | Basketball. keyhole (def. 2). |
| 29. | Photography. the dominant tonal value of a picture, a high-key picture having light tonal values and minimal contrast and a low-key picture being generally dark with minimal contrast. |
| 30. | Painting. the tonal value and intensity of a color or range of colors: Rembrandt's colors are characterized by their low key. |
| 31. | Botany. a samara. |
| 32. | (initial capital letter ) a member of the House of Keys. |
| 33. | keys, spiritual authority. |
| 34. | chief; major; important; essential; fundamental; pivotal: a key person in the company; key industries. |
| 35. | to regulate or adjust (actions, thoughts, speech, etc.) to a particular state or activity; bring into conformity: to key one's speech to the intellectual level of the audience. |
| 36. | Music. to regulate the key or pitch of. |
| 37. | Painting.
|
| 38. | to fasten, secure, or adjust with a key, wedge, or the like, as parts of a mechanism. |
| 39. | to provide with a key. |
| 40. | (in the layout of newspapers, magazines, etc.) to identify, through signs or symbols, the positions of illustrations or pieces of copy in a dummy. |
| 41. | to lock with or as if with a key. |
| 42. | Masonry. to provide (an arch or vault) with a keystone. |
| 43. | Computers. keyboard (def. 4). |
| 46. | key in, Computers. keyboard (def. 4). |
| 47. | key on,
|
| 48. | key up,
|
| 49. | power of the keys, the authority of a pope in ecclesiastical matters, vested in him as successor of St. Peter. |
The main or central note of a piece of music (or part of a piece of music). Each key has its own scale, beginning and ending on the note that defines the octave of the next scale. The key of C-major uses a scale that starts on C and uses only the white keys of the piano. In a piece composed in the key of C, the music is likely to end on the note C, and certain combinations of notes based on C will predominate.
K
[ke]
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| key (kē) Pronunciation Key
See cay. |