Definitions for keys

• Definition
• Anagrams (21)

keys key

Spelling: [kee]

IPA: /ki/

Keys is a 4 letter English word. It's valid Scrabble word worth 11 points. It's valid Words with friends word worth 10 points.

You can make 21 anagrams from letters in keys (eksy).

Definitions for keys

noun

1. a small metal instrument specially cut to fit into a lock and move its bolt.
2. any of various devices resembling or functioning as a key:
3. key card.
4. something that affords a means of access:
5. something that secures or controls entrance to a place:
6. something that affords a means of clarifying a problem.
7. a book, pamphlet, or other text containing the solutions or translations of material given elsewhere, as testing exercises.
8. a systematic explanation of abbreviations, symbols, etc., used in a dictionary, map, etc.: Compare legend (def 4).
9. the system, method, pattern, etc., used to decode or decipher a cryptogram, as a code book, machine setting, or keyword.
10. one of a set of marked parts, designated areas, or levers pressed in operating a typewriter, computer terminal, calculator, etc.
11. a manually operated lever for opening and closing an electric circuit, used to produce signals in telegraphy.
12. Music. (in a keyboard instrument) one of the levers that when depressed by the performer sets in motion the playing mechanism. (on a woodwind instrument) a metal lever that opens and closes a vent. the relationship perceived between all tones in a given unit of music and a single tone or a keynote; tonality. the principal tonality of a composition: the keynote or tonic of a scale.
13. tone or pitch, as of voice:
14. mood or characteristic style, as of expression or thought:
15. degree of intensity, as of feeling or action.
16. a pin, bolt, wedge, or other piece inserted in a hole or space to lock or hold parts of a mechanism or structure together; a cotter.
17. a small piece of steel fitting into matching slots of a hub of a wheel or the like and the shaft on which the wheel is mounted so that torque is transmitted from one to the other.
18. a contrivance for grasping and turning a bolt, nut, etc.
19. Computers. a field or group of characters within a record that identifies the record, establishing its position among sorted records, and/or provides information about its contents.
20. (in a series of advertisements or announcements soliciting replies) a unique code inserted for each medium used, to determine the relative effectiveness of the media.
21. Electricity. a device for opening and closing electrical contacts. a hand-operated switching device ordinarily formed of concealed spring contacts with an exposed handle or push button, capable of switching one or more parts of a circuit.
22. Biology. a systematic tabular classification of the significant characteristics of the members of a group of organisms to facilitate identification and comparison.
23. Masonry. a keystone.
24. Architecture. (in a ribbed vault) a stone, as a boss, at the intersection of two or more ribs.
25. Masonry, Carpentry. a wedge, as for tightening a joint or splitting a stone or timber.
26. Carpentry. a small piece of wood set into a timber across the grain to prevent warping.
27. Building Trades. any grooving or roughness applied to a surface to improve its bond with another surface.
28. Basketball. keyhole (def 2).
29. Photography. the dominant tonal value of a picture, a high-key picture having light tonal values and minimal contrast and a low-key picture being generally dark with minimal contrast.
30. Painting. the tonal value and intensity of a color or range of colors:
31. Botany. a samara.
32. (initial capital letter) a member of the House of Keys.
33. keys, spiritual authority.
34. a reef or low island; cay.
35. a kilogram of marijuana or a narcotic drug.

Idioms

1. power of the keys, the authority of a pope in ecclesiastical matters, vested in him as successor of St. Peter.

adjective

1. chief; major; important; essential; fundamental; pivotal:

Verb phrases

1. key in, Computers. keyboard (def 4).
2. key on, Football. to watch the position and movements of an opponent in order to anticipate a play: Also, key in on. to single out as of prime importance or interest; be intent on or obsessed with:
3. key up, to bring to a particular degree of intensity of feeling, excitement, energy, nervousness, agitation, etc.: to raise (a piece of masonry) by the insertion of a wedge or wedges. to raise (the haunches of an arch) by the insertion of a voussoir.

verb (used with object)

1. to regulate or adjust (actions, thoughts, speech, etc.) to a particular state or activity; bring into conformity:
2. Music. to regulate the key or pitch of.
3. Painting. to paint (a picture) in a given key. to adjust the colors in (a painting) to a particular hue:
4. to fasten, secure, or adjust with a key, wedge, or the like, as parts of a mechanism.
5. to provide with a key.
6. (in the layout of newspapers, magazines, etc.) to identify, through signs or symbols, the positions of illustrations or pieces of copy in a dummy.
7. to lock with or as if with a key.
8. Masonry. to provide (an arch or vault) with a keystone.
9. Computers. keyboard (def 4).

verb (used without object)

1. to use a key.
2. Computers. keyboard (def 4).

Origin of keys

before 900; Middle English key(e), kay(e), Old English cǣg, cǣge; cognate with Old Frisian kei, kai

Examples for keys

He is intrusted with all the keys, and can do it if he will.

But M. Picard advised me against it and even added that it would be unwise to keep the keys.

We'll bring her trunk down, put it in her room and lay the keys on top.

He WAS a great surgeon: in his hands he held the keys of life and death.

Last Thursday, the United Nations released a report that could provide us with one of the keys to defeating ISIS.

Come along, Toinette, first of all, let us take all the keys.

I am the unworthy servant and delegate of him who holds the keys.

But the keys to their success, separated by almost exactly a century, have proven to be quite similar.

On April 25, 1941, the Gestapo moved into the building and I had to give all the keys to the Germans.

What was America supposed to do after Pearl Harbor, put the keys to the Golden Gate in an airmail envelope and send them to Tojo?