Part 505

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.

6. (Arch.) (a) A piece of wood used as a wedge. (b) The last board of a floor when laid down.

7. (Masonry) (a) A keystone. (b) That part of the plastering which is forced through between the laths and holds the rest in place.

8. (Mach.) (a) A wedge to unite two or more pieces, or adjust their relative position; a cotter; a forelock. See Illusts. of Cotter, and Gib. (b) 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.

9. (Bot.) An indehiscent, one-seeded fruit furnished with a wing, as the fruit of the ash and maple; a samara; -- called also key fruit.

10. (Mus.) (a) A family of tones whose regular members are called diatonic tones, and named key tone (or tonic) or one (or eight), mediant or three, dominant or five, subdominant or four, submediant or six, supertonic or two, and subtonic or seven. Chromatic tones are temporary members of a key, under such names as " sharp four, " "flat seven," etc. Scales and tunes of every variety are made from the tones of a key. (b) The fundamental tone of a movement to which its modulations are referred, and with which it generally begins and ends; keynote.

Both warbling of one song, both in one key.

Shak.

11. Fig: The general pitch or tone of a sentence or utterance.

You fall at once into a lower key.

Cowper.

Key bed. Same as Key seat. -- Key bolt, a bolt which has a mortise near the end, and is secured by a cotter or wedge instead of a nut. Key bugle. See Kent bugle. -- Key of a position or country. (Mil.) See Key, 4. -- Key seat (Mach.), a bed or groove to receive a key which prevents one part from turning on the other. -- Key way, a channel for a key, in the hole of a piece which is keyed to a shaft; an internal key seat; -- called also key seat. -- Key wrench (Mach.), an adjustable wrench in which the movable jaw is made fast by a key. -- Power of the keys (Eccl.), the authority claimed by the ministry in some Christian churches to administer the discipline of the church, and to grant or withhold its privileges; -- so called from the declaration of Christ, "I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven." Matt. xvi. 19.

Key (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Keved (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Keying.] To fasten or secure firmly; to fasten or tighten with keys or wedges. Francis.

To key up. (a) (Arch.) To raise (the whole ring of an arch) off its centering, by driving in the keystone forcibly. (b) (Mus.) To raise the pitch of. (c) Hence, fig., to produce nervous tension in.

Key"age (?), n. [OF. caiage, F. guayage. See lst Key, Quay.] Wharfage; quayage.

Key"board` (?), n. The whole arrangement, or one range, of the keys of an organ, typewriter, etc.

Key"-cold` (?), a. Cold as a metallic key; lifeless. [Formerly, a proverbial expression.] Shak. Milton.

Keyed (kd), a. Furnished with keys; as, a keyed instrument; also, set to a key, as a tune.

Keyed bugle. See Kent bugle.

Key"hole` (?), n. 1. A hole or apertupe in a door or lock, for receiving a key.

2. (a) (Carp.) A hole or excavation in beams intended to be joined together, to receive the key which fastens them. (b) (Mach.) a mortise for a key or cotter.

Keyhole limpet (Zoöl.), a marine gastropod of the genus Fissurella and allied genera. See Fissurella. -- Keyhole saw, a narrow, slender saw, used in cutting keyholes, etc., as in doors; a kind of compass saw or fret saw. -- Keyhole urchin (Zoöl.), any one of numerous clypeastroid sea urchins, of the genera Melitta, Rotula, and Encope; -- so called because they have one or more perforations resembling keyholes.

Key"note` (?), n. 1. (Mus.) The tonic or first tone of the scale in which a piece or passage is written; the fundamental tone of the chord, to which all the modulations of the piece are referred; -- called also key tone.

2. The fundamental fact or idea; that which gives the key; as, the keynote of a policy or a sermon.

Key"seat` (?), v. t. To form a key seat, as by cutting. See Key seat, under Key.