Home > Antonyms > Antonyms for keys

Antonyms for keys

Grammar : Noun
Spell : kee
Phonetic Transcription : ki

Definition of keys

Origin :
  • "metal piece that works a lock," from Old English cæg "key," of unknown origin, with no certain cognates other than Old Frisian kei. Perhaps related to Middle Low German keie "lance, spear" on notion of "tool to cleave with," from Proto-Germanic *ki- "to cleaver, split" (cf. German Keil "wedge," Gothic us-kijans "come forth," said of seed sprouts, keinan "to germinate"). But Liberman writes, "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." Modern pronunciation is a northern variant predominating from c.1700; earlier it was often spelled and pronounced kay.
  • Figurative sense of "that which serves to open or explain" was in Old English; meaning "that which holds together other parts" is from 1520s. As "answer to a test," it is from chess, short for key move, "first move in a solution to a set problem." Musical sense of "tone, note" is 15c., but modern sense of "scale" is 1580s, probably as a translation of Latin clavis or French clef (see clef; also cf. keynote). Extended c.1500 to "mechanism on a musical instrument." As a verb meaning "to scratch (a car's paint job) with a key" it is recorded by 1986.
  • noun item that unlocks
  • noun answer, solution
Example sentences :
  • He is intrusted with all the keys, and can do it if he will.
  • Extract from : « Philothea » by Lydia Maria Child
  • I am the unworthy servant and delegate of him who holds the keys.
  • Extract from : « The White Company » by Arthur Conan Doyle
  • He WAS a great surgeon: in his hands he held the keys of life and death.
  • Extract from : « K » by Mary Roberts Rinehart
  • Come along, Toinette, first of all, let us take all the keys.
  • Extract from : « The Imaginary Invalid » by Molire
  • We'll bring her trunk down, put it in her room and lay the keys on top.
  • Extract from : « Her Father's Daughter » by Gene Stratton-Porter
  • The man pretended that the captain had carried off the keys, and no rum was to be had.
  • Extract from : « Ned Myers » by James Fenimore Cooper
  • It is operated by pressing the keys of the machine and the spirits of the audience.
  • Extract from : « The Devil's Dictionary » by Ambrose Bierce
  • I don't choose to give my keys to any body, except to my mother, and into her own hands.
  • Extract from : « Clarissa, Volume 2 (of 9) » by Samuel Richardson
  • It will be the better taken, if you give me cheerfully your keys.
  • Extract from : « Clarissa, Volume 2 (of 9) » by Samuel Richardson
  • The hand banged on half a dozen of the keys of the machine at once.
  • Extract from : « American Notes » by Rudyard Kipling

Synonyms for keys

Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019