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key word:
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Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
key1
▶noun (pl. keys)
  • 1 a small piece of shaped metal with incisions cut to fit the wards of a particular lock, which is inserted into the lock and rotated to open or close it or to operate a switch.

    ■ an instrument for grasping and turning a screw, peg, or nut.

    ■ a pin, bolt, or wedge inserted into a hole or between parts so as to lock the parts together.

  • 2 a lever depressed by the finger in playing an instrument such as the organ, piano, flute, or concertina.
  • 3 each of several buttons on a panel for operating a typewriter, word processor, or computer terminal.
  • 4 a lever operating a mechanical device for making or breaking an electric circuit.
  • 5 a thing that provides access to or understanding of something: a key to success.

    ■ an explanatory list of symbols used in a map or table.

    ■ a set of answers to exercises or problems.

    ■ a word or system for solving a cipher or code.

    ■ the first move in the solution of a chess problem.

  • 6 Music a group of notes based on a particular note and comprising a scale, regarded as forming the tonal basis of a passage of music.

    ■ the tone or pitch of someone's voice.

  • 7 the dry winged fruit of an ash, maple, or sycamore; a samara.
  • 8 roughness on a surface, provided to assist adhesion of plaster or other material.
  • 9 Basketball the keyhole-shaped area marked on the court near each basket.
▶adjective of crucial importance: a key figure. ▶verb (keys, keying, keyed)
  • 1 enter or operate on (data) by means of a computer keyboard.
  • 2 fasten into position with a pin, wedge, or bolt.
  • 3 (key to) chiefly N. Amer. link with.

    ■ (key into/in with) be connected or in harmony with.

  • 4 (be keyed up) be nervous, tense, or excited.
  • 5 roughen (a surface) to assist adhesion of plaster or other material.
– phrases
in (or out of) key in (or out of) harmony.
– derivatives
keyed adjective,
keyer noun,
keyless adjective.
– origin OE cǣg, cǣge, of unknown origin.



Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
key2
▶noun a low-lying island or reef, especially off the coast of Florida or in the Caribbean.
– origin C17: from Sp. cayo ‘reef’, influenced by quay.




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