key
- Noun. An object designed to open and close a lock.
- Noun. An object designed to fit between two other objects (such as a shaft and a wheel) in a mechanism and maintain their relative orientation.
- Noun. A crucial step or requirement.
- Noun. A guide explaining the symbols or terminology of a map or chart; a legend.
- Noun. A guide to the correct answers of a worksheet or test.
- Noun. (computing) One of several small, usually square buttons on a typewriter or computer keyboard, mostly corresponding to text characters.
- Noun. (music) One of a number of rectangular moving parts on a piano or musical keyboard, each causing a particular sound or note to be produced.
- Noun. (music) One of various levers on a musical instrument used to select notes, such as a lever opening a hole on a woodwind.
- Noun. (music) A hierarchical scale of musical notes on which a composition is based.
- Noun. (historical) A manual electrical switching device primarily used for the transmission of Morse code.
- Noun. (cryptography) A piece of information (e.g. a passphrase) used to encode or decode a message or messages.
- Noun. (computing) In a relational database, a field used as an index into another table (not necessarily unique).
- Noun. (computing) A value that uniquely identifies an entry in an associative array.
- Noun. (basketball) 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.
- Noun. (biology) A series of logically organized groups of discriminating information which aims to allow the user to correctly identify a taxon.
- Noun. (slang) kilogram.
- Adjective. Indispensable.
- Adjective. Important, salient.
- Verb. To fit (a lock) with a key.
- Verb. To fit (pieces of a mechanical assembly) with a key to maintain the orientation between them.
- Verb. To mark or indicate with a symbol indicating membership in a class.
- Verb. (context, telegraphy and radio telegraphy) To depress (a telegraph key).
- Verb. (context, radio) To operate (the transmitter switch of a two-way radio).
- Verb. (computing) (''more usually'' '''to key in''') To enter (information) by typing on a keyboard or keypad.
- Verb. (colloquial) To vandalize (a car, etc.) by scratching with an implement such as a key.
- Verb. To link (as one might do with a key or legend).
- Verb. (intransitive) (biology, mostly) To be identified as a certain taxon when using a key.
- Noun. One of a string of small islands.
This is an unmodified, but possibly outdated, definition from Wiktionary and used here under the Creative Commons license. Wiktionary is a great resource. If you like it too, please donate to Wikimedia.
This entry was last updated on RefTopia from its source on 3/20/2012.