key

名词 n. 动词 v. 形容词 adj.
/kiː/    /ki/

英文释义

名词 n.
  1. An object designed to open and close a lock. countable
    — We tiptoed into the house, up the stairs and along the hall into the room where the Professor had been spending so much of his time. 'Twas locked, of course, but the Deacon man got a big bunch of keys out of his pocket and commenced to putter with the lock.
  2. Alternative form of quay. alt-of,alternative
  3. A kilogram, especially of a recreational drug. slang
    — So starting with ten keys of cocaine and two keys of heroin, Derrick put his plan in motion. Soon every major drug dealer and gang chief from Chicago Avenue to Evanston was in his pocket.
  4. One of a string of small islands.
    — the Florida Keys
  5. An object designed to fit between two other objects (such as a shaft and a wheel) in a mechanism and maintain their relative orientation.
  6. A crucial step or requirement.
    — The key to solving this problem is persistence.
  7. A small guide explaining symbols or terminology, especially the legend on a map or chart.
    — The key says that A stands for the accounting department.
  8. A guide to the correct answers of a worksheet or test.
    — Some students cheated by using the answer key.
  9. One of several small, usually square buttons on a typewriter or computer keyboard, mostly corresponding to text characters.
    — Press the Escape key.
  10. In musical instruments, one of the valve levers used to select notes, such as a lever opening a hole on a woodwind.
  11. In instruments with a keyboard such as an organ or piano, one of the levers, or especially the exposed front end of it, which are depressed to cause a particular sound or note to be produced.
  12. A scale or group of pitches constituting the basis of a musical composition.
    — the key of B-flat major
  13. A scale or group of pitches constituting the basis of a musical composition.; The lowest note of a scale; keynote.
  14. A scale or group of pitches constituting the basis of a musical composition.; In musical theory, the total melodic and harmonic relations, which exist between the tones of an ideal scale, major or minor; tonality.
  15. A scale or group of pitches constituting the basis of a musical composition.; In musical theory and notation, the tonality centering in a given tone, or the several tones taken collectively, of a given scale, major or minor.
  16. A scale or group of pitches constituting the basis of a musical composition.; In musical notation, a sign at the head of a staff indicating the musical key.
  17. The general pitch or tone of a sentence or utterance. figuratively
    — 2. Queen.[…]Deere Glasse of Ladies Bid him that we whom flaming war doth scortch, Vnder the shaddow of his Sword, may coole us: Require him he advance it ore our heades; Speak't in a womans key: like such a woman As any of us three; weepe ere you faile; lend us a knee; But touch the ground for us no longer time Then a Doves motion, when the head's pluckt off: Tell him if he i'th blood cizd field, lay swolne Showing the Sun his Teeth; grinning at the Moone What you would doe.
  18. A modification of an advertisement so as to target a particular group or demographic.
    — Another popular way to key ads and mailings is to use a suite number, room number, department number, desk number, etc. as part of the ordering address. With a classified ad, using such a key may increase your ad cost.
  19. An indehiscent, one-seeded fruit furnished with a wing, such as the fruit of the ash and maple; a samara.
  20. A manual electrical switching device primarily used for the transmission of Morse code. historical
  21. A piece of information (e.g., a password or passphrase) used to encode or decode a message or messages.
  22. A password restricting access to an IRC channel. Internet
    — if you know someone who is in the channel, you can query them and ask for the key.
  23. In a relational database, a field used as an index into another table (not necessarily unique).
  24. A value that uniquely identifies an entry in a container.
  25. Any of various tools comparable to a wrench (spanner) or driver, or, in some cases, also called a wrench or driver.
    — radiator key
  26. A series of logically organized groups of discriminating information which aims to allow the user to correctly identify a taxon.
  27. A piece of wood used as a wedge.
  28. The last board of a floor when laid down.
  29. A keystone.
  30. That part of the plastering which is forced through between the laths and holds the rest in place.
  31. A wooden wedge, driven sideways between a bullhead rail and a cast-iron chair, to keep the rail securely in position.
  32. The degree of roughness, or retention ability of a surface to have applied a liquid such as paint, or glue.
    — The door panel should be sanded down carefully to provide a good key for the new paint.
  33. The thirty-third card of the Lenormand deck.
  34. The black ink layer, especially in relation to the three color layers of cyan, magenta, and yellow. See also CMYK.
  35. A color to be masked or made transparent.
    — You can easily create this type of user interface by creating a bitmap with certain portions set to a predefined color you want to use as the transparency key.
  36. 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.
    — He shoots from the top of the key.
  37. A key position player (a tall forward or defender).
    — "It just means that one of them here and there will need to play on a small-to-medium forward (instead of Riewoldt) which is fine. Our keys are pretty agile."
动词 v.
  1. To fit (a lock) with a key.
  2. To fit (pieces of a mechanical assembly) with a key to maintain the orientation between them.
  3. To mark or indicate with a symbol indicating membership in a class.
    — So I worked on a tissue-paper copy of the perimeter plan, outlining groupings of plants of the same species and keying them with letters for the species.
  4. To depress (a telegraph key).
  5. To operate (the transmitter switch of a two-way radio).
  6. (more usually to key in) To enter (information) by typing on a keyboard or keypad.
    — Our instructor told us to key in our user IDs.
  7. To vandalize (a car, etc.) by scratching with an implement such as a key. colloquial
    — He keyed the car that had taken his parking spot.
  8. To link (as one might do with a key or legend).
    — The American Heart Association has prepared their own guide to classification and, keying it with the Standard Nomenclature of Diseases, have done much to encourage a concise yet complete diagnosis.
  9. To be identified as a certain taxon when using a key. intransitive
  10. To modify (an advertisement) so as to target a particular group or demographic. transitive
    — Keying advertisements and counting the number of inquiries received or the number of coupons returned to indicate the "pulling power" of a particular piece of copy or the coverage of a particular advertising medium.
  11. To attune to; to set at; to pitch.
    — To Ethel alone she addressed a stray remark, keyed below the sound of other voices.
  12. To fasten or secure firmly; to fasten or tighten with keys or wedges.
    — they Mouldered and keyed the Portico Arches with Pieces of Stone, because Brick was not strong enough
  13. To prepare for plastering by adding the key (that part of the plastering which is forced through between the laths and holds the rest in place).
  14. To provide an arch with a keystone.
    — The last arch in the permanant ^([sic]) bridge was keyed on March 26, 1850, and a single track was brought into use for goods trains on July 20.
  15. Clipping of chromakey. abbreviation,alt-of,clipping
    — After keying the background, you’d be left with a transparent background, where you can install anything—from images to videos that blend seamlessly into the main subject of the shot.
形容词 adj.
  1. Indispensable, supremely important. not-comparable,usually
    — He is the key player on his soccer team.
  2. Important, salient. not-comparable,usually
    — She makes several key points.

词形变化

keys plural keyer comparative more key comparative keyest superlative most key superlative keys present,singular,third-person keying participle,present keyed participle,past keyed past keys plural cay alternative keys plural ki alternative keye alternative kee alternative keys plural

词汇关系

衍生词
accelerator key a golden key can open any door Allen key alt key answer key arrow key autokey barrel key bedkey bis key boss key bump key business key card key car key CD key change key check key Chinese keys chroma-key chroma key chuck key clustering key Command key composite key compound key content key control key Cross Keys Cuban Keys culverkey cursor key dead key dichotomous key disk on key electronic car key enter key escape key false key fin key function key Greek key hashkey hex key high-key home key hot key hotkey housekey identification key ignition key I lost my keys in a major key in a minor key in key I've lost my keys jiggle key jiggler key keyable key alike key art key artwork key back keybed key bed keybind key binding key bit keyboard key bolt keybounce key bounce keyboy key-bugle key bump keybutton keycap keycard key catcher keycatcher keychain keyclick key club keycode key-cold key combo key currency key defender key desk key down key drive key encapsulation mechanism keyer key exchange key finder keyfob key forward keyframe key frame key-fruit key fruit Key Green key grip keyguard key harp keyholder key holder keyholding keyhole key interest rate key into keykeeper key-keeper Key Largo keyless keylet key light keylike keyline keylock key log keylogger key logger keylogging keymaker keyman key man risk keymap keymapping keymask keymaster key-money key money keyness keynote key of the door Key of the Mediterranean key of the street keypad key pair keypair keypal key party keypath key performance indicator key person insurance key person risk keyphone keyplate keypoint key press keypress keypunch key rate keyring keyscan key seat keyseat keysender keysending keyserver key server keyset key set identifier keysigning keysmash keysmith keys of the kingdom keyspace key spoke key stage keystone keystore keys to the kingdom keystream key stretching keystring keystrip keystroke keyswitch keytainer keytap keytop key to the city key to the door key to the midway key up key-value key visual keyway key word keyword key-word keywork keyworker key worker key wrench latch-key latchkey latch key latch-key child lock key lock someone up and throw away the key lowkey low-key low key maple key master key meta key mid-key miskey modifier key multikey natural key nose key off-key out of key parallel key passkey personal unblocking key PF key piano keys pipe key pre-shared key private key programmed function key public key public key certificate public key cryptography railway key rekey relative key return key rose key screw key secret key serial key shift key shortcut key skate key slack key slack-key soft key sortkey split key spoke key start key stream key subkey sub-key Super key superkey surrogate key tenkey theoretical key throw away the key tipsy key tooth key tuning key turn-key turnkey under lock and key unkey USB key Walpole Cross Keys water key Windows key wine key wine-key Winkey witkey Woodruff key keyed up key in key in on key off key on key out

词源

词源 1
From Middle English keye, kaye, keiȝe, from Old English cǣġ (“key, solution, experiment”) (whence also Scots key and kay (“key”)), from Anglo-Frisian Proto-West Germanic *kaiju, of uncertain origin. The only sure cognates are Saterland Frisian Koai (“key”), West Frisian kaai (“key”), and North Frisian kai, koie (“key”). Possibly from Proto-Germanic *kēgaz, *kēguz (“stake, post, pole”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵogʰ-, *ǵegʰ-, *ǵegʰn- (“branch, stake, bush”), which would make it cognate with Middle Low German kāk (“whipping post, pillory”), and perhaps to Middle Dutch keige (“javelin, spear”) and Middle Low German keie, keige (“spear”).
For the semantic development, note that medieval keys were simply long poles (ending in a hook) with which a crossbar obstructing a door from the inside could be removed from the outside, by lifting it through a hole in the door. Liberman has noted, however, "The original meaning of *kaig-jo- was presumably '*pin with a twisted end.' Words with the root *kai- followed by a consonant meaning 'crooked, bent; twisted' are common only in the North Germanic languages."
词源 2
Variant of cay, from Spanish cayo, from Taíno cayo (“small island”)
词源 3
Clipping of kilogram or kilo.
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