Definition of "key"
- noun
An object designed to open and close a lock.
An object designed to fit between two other objects (such as a shaft and a wheel) in a mechanism and maintain their relative orientation.
A crucial step or requirement.
A guide explaining the symbols or terminology of a map or chart; a legend.
A guide to the correct answers of a worksheet or test.
One of several small, usually square buttons on a typewriter or computer keyboard, mostly corresponding to text characters.
One of a number of rectangular moving parts on a piano or musical keyboard, each causing a particular sound or note to be produced.
One of various levers on a musical instrument used to select notes, such as a lever opening a hole on a woodwind.
A hierarchical scale of musical notes on which a composition is based.
A manual electrical switching device primarily used for the transmission of Morse code.
A piece of information (e.g. a passphrase) used to encode or decode a message or messages.
In a relational database, a field used as an index into another table (not necessarily unique).
A value that uniquely identifies an entry in an associative array.
The free-throw lane together with the circle surrounding the free-throw line, the free-throw lane having formerly been narrower, giving the area the shape of a skeleton key hole.
A series of logically organized groups of discriminating information which aims to allow the user to correctly identify a taxon.
Kilogram.
One of a string of small islands.
- adjective
Indispensable, supremely important.
Important, salient.
- verb
To fit (a lock) with a key.
To fit (pieces of a mechanical assembly) with a key to maintain the orientation between them.
To mark or indicate with a symbol indicating membership in a class.
To depress (a telegraph key).
To operate (the transmitter switch of a two-way radio).
(more usually to key in) To enter (information) by typing on a keyboard or keypad.
To vandalize (a car, etc.) by scratching with an implement such as a key.
To link (as one might do with a key or legend).
(biology, chiefly taxonomy) To be identified as a certain taxon when using a key.
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