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Word Meanings - KEY - Book Publishers vocabulary database

An indehiscent, one-seeded fruit furnished with a wing, as the fruit of the ash and maple; a samara; -- called also key fruit. (more info) 1. An instrument by means of which the bolt of a lock is shot or drawn; usually, a removable metal instrument

Additional info about word: KEY

An indehiscent, one-seeded fruit furnished with a wing, as the fruit of the ash and maple; a samara; -- called also key fruit. (more info) 1. An instrument by means of which the bolt of a lock is shot or drawn; usually, a removable metal instrument fitted to the mechanism of a particular lock and operated by turning in its place. 2. An instrument which is turned like a key in fastening or adjusting any mechanism; as, a watch key; a bed key, etc. 3. That part of an instrument or machine which serves as the means of operating it; as, a telegraph key; the keys of a pianoforte, or of a typewriter. 4. A position or condition which affords entrance, control, pr possession, etc.; as, the key of a line of defense; the key of a country; the key of a political situation. Hence, that which serves to unlock, open, discover, or solve something unknown or difficult; as, the key to a riddle; the key to a problem. Those who are accustomed to reason have got the true key of books. Locke. Who keeps the keys of all the creeds. Tennyson. 5. That part of a mechanism which serves to lock up, make fast, or adjust to position. A piece of wood used as a wedge. The last board of a floor when laid down. A keystone. That part of the plastering which is forced through between the laths and holds the rest in place. A wedge to unite two or more pieces, or adjust their relative position; a cotter; a forelock. See Illusts. of Cotter, and Gib. A bar, pin or wedge, to secure a crank, pulley, coupling, etc., upon a shaft, and prevent relative turning; sometimes holding by friction alone, but more frequently by its resistance to shearing, being usually embedded partly in the shaft and partly in the crank, pulley, etc.

Possible synonyms: (Same meaning words of KEY)

Related words: (words related to KEY)

  • RESOLUTIONER
    One who makes a resolution; one who joins with others in a declaration or resolution; specifically, one of a party in the Scottish Church in the 17th century. He was sequestrated afterwards as a Resolutioner. Sir W. Scott.
  • DISCONNECTION
    The act of disconnecting, or state of being disconnected; separation; want of union. Nothing was therefore to be left in all the subordinate members but weakness, disconnection, and confusion. Burke.
  • ANSWER
    1. To speak in defense against; to reply to in defense; as, to answer a charge; to answer an accusation. 2. To speak or write in return to, as in return to a call or question, or to a speech, declaration, argument, or the like; to reply to ; to
  • EXPLANATION
    1. The act of explaining, expounding, or interpreting; the act of clearing from obscurity and making intelligible; as, the explanation of a passage in Scripture, or of a contract or treaty. 2. That which explains or makes clear; as, a satisfactory
  • SOLUTION
    The act or process by which a body (whether solid, liquid, or gaseous) is absorbed into a liquid, and, remaining or becoming fluid, is diffused throughout the solvent; also, the product reulting from such absorption. Note: When a solvent will not
  • RESOLUTIONIST
    One who makes a resolution.
  • ANSWERLESS
    Having no answer, or impossible to be answered. Byron.
  • ANSWERABLE
    1. Obliged to answer; liable to be called to account; liable to pay, indemnify, or make good; accountable; amenable; responsible; as, an agent is answerable to his principal; to be answerable for a debt, or for damages. Will any man argue that
  • BREACH
    A hernia; a rupture. 8. A breaking out upon; an assault. The Lord had made a breach upon Uzza. 1. Chron. xiii. 11 Breach of falth, a breaking, or a failure to keep, an expressed or implied promise; a betrayal of confidence or trust. -- Breach of
  • BREACHY
    Apt to break fences or to break out of pasture; unruly; as, breachy cattle.
  • RESOLUTION
    The act or process of solving; solution; as, the resolution of an equation or problem. (more info) 1. The act, operation, or process of resolving. Specifically: The act of separating a compound into its elements or component parts. The act of
  • ELUCIDATION
    A making clear; the act of elucidating or that which elucidates, as an explanation, an exposition, an illustration; as, one example may serve for further elucidation of the subject.
  • DISRUPTION
    The act or rending asunder, or the state of being rent asunder or broken in pieces; breach; rent; dilaceration; rupture; as, the disruption of rocks in an earthquake; disruption of a state.
  • DISINTEGRATION
    The process by which anything is disintegrated; the condition of anything which is disintegrated. Specifically The wearing away or falling to pieces of rocks or strata, produced by atmospheric action, frost, ice, etc. Society had need of further
  • ANSWERABLY
    In an answerable manner; in due proportion or correspondence; suitably.
  • DISCONTINUANCE
    1. The act of discontinuing, or the state of being discontinued; want of continued connection or continuity; breaking off; cessation; interruption; as, a discontinuance of conversation or intercourse; discontinuance of a highway or of travel. A
  • ANSWERER
    One who answers.
  • ANSWERABLENESS
    The quality of being answerable, liable, responsible, or correspondent.
  • SEPARATION
    The act of separating, or the state of being separated, or separate. Specifically: Chemical analysis. Divorce. The operation of removing water from steam. Judicial separation , a form of divorce; a separation of man and wife which has the effect
  • DISENTANGLEMENT
    The act of disentangling or clearing from difficulties. Warton.
  • MONSEL'S SOLUTION
    An aqueous solution of Monsel's salt, having valuable styptic properties.
  • NONSOLUTION
    Failure of solution or explanation.
  • UNANSWERABLE
    Not answerable; irrefutable; conclusive; decisive; as, he have an unanswerable argument. -- Un*an"swer*a*ble*ness, n. -- Un*an"swer*a*bly, adv.
  • LABARRAQUE'S SOLUTION
    An aqueous solution of hypochlorite of sodium, extensively used as a disinfectant.
  • DISSOLUTION
    1. The act of dissolving, sundering, or separating into component parts; separation. Dissolutions of ancient amities. Shak. 2. Change from a solid to a fluid state; solution by heat or moisture; liquefaction; melting. 3. Change of form by chemical
  • SEA BREACH
    A breaking or overflow of a bank or a dike by the sea. L'Estrange.
  • FOWLER'S SOLUTION
    . An Fowler, an English physician who first brought it into use.
  • DOBELL'S SOLUTION
    An aqueous solution of carbolic acid, borax, sodium bicarbonate, and glycerin, used as a spray in diseases of the nose and throat.
  • POUND-BREACH
    The breaking of a public pound for releasing impounded animals. Blackstone.

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