(n.) 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.
(n.) An instrument which is turned like a key in fastening or adjusting any mechanism; as, a watch key; a bed key, etc.
(n.) 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.
(n.) 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.
(n.) That part of a mechanism which serves to lock up, make fast, or adjust to position.
(n.) A piece of wood used as a wedge.
(n.) The last board of a floor when laid down.
(n.) A keystone.
(n.) That part of the plastering which is forced through between the laths and holds the rest in place.
(n.) A wedge to unite two or more pieces, or adjust their relative position; a cotter; a forelock.
(n.) 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.
(n.) An indehiscent, one-seeded fruit furnished with a wing, as the fruit of the ash and maple; a samara; -- called also key fruit.
(n.) 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.
(n.) The fundamental tone of a movement to which its modulations are referred, and with which it generally begins and ends; keynote.
(n.) Fig: The general pitch or tone of a sentence or utterance.
(v. t.) To fasten or secure firmly; to fasten or tighten with keys or wedges.
Example Sentences:
(1) Community involvement is a key element of the Primary Health Care (PHC) approach, and thus an essential topic on a course for managers of Primary Health Care programmes.
(2) A key way of regaining public trust will be reforming the system of remuneration as agreed by the G20.
(3) Instead, the White House opted for a low-key approach, publishing a blogpost profiling Trinace Edwards, a brain-tumour victim who recently discovered she was eligible for Medicaid coverage.
(4) The presence of a few key residues in the amino-terminal alpha-helix of each ligand is sufficient to confer specificity to the interaction.
(5) The key warning from the Fed chair A summary of Bernanke's hearing Earlier... MPs in London quizzed the Bank of England on Libor.
(6) "Seller reports are key to identifying bad buyers and ridding them from our marketplace," says eBay.
(7) It is suggested that the low-density lipoprotein receptors in human fetal liver may play a key role in the regulation of the serum cholesterol levels during gestation.
(8) A key component of a career program should be recognition of a nurse's needs and the program should be evaluated to determine if these needs are met.
(9) As novel antibody therapeutics are developed for different malignancies and require evaluation with cells previously uncharacterized as antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) targets, efficient description of key parameters of the assay system expedites the preclinical assessment.
(10) Meanwhile, Hunt has been accused of backtracking on a key recommendation in the official report into Mid Staffs.
(11) The safe motherhood initiative demands an intersectoral, collaborative approach to gynecology, family planning, and child health in which midwifery is the key element.
(12) Acetylcholinesterase is a key enzyme in cholinergic neurotransmission for hydrolyzing acetylcholine and has been shown to possess arylacylamidase activity in addition to esterase activity.
(13) If Lagarde had been placed under formal investigation in the Tapie case, it would have risked weakening her position and further embarrassing both the IMF and France by heaping more judicial worries on a key figure on the international stage.
(14) Four goals, four assists, and constant movement have been a key part of the team’s success.
(15) Mechanosensitive ion channels may play a key role in transducing vascular smooth muscle (VSM) stretch into active force development.
(16) But Abaaoud, the man thought to be a key planner for the group behind the Paris attacks, boasted to a niece that he had brought around 90 militants back to Europe with him.
(17) Key therapeutic questions are whether beta-lactams can safely replace aminoglycosides for the treatment of gram-negative pneumonia, and whether monotherapy or aminoglycoside and beta-lactam combination antibiotic treatment is superior.
(18) Teaching procedures then establish and build these key components to fluency.
(19) Doubts about Hinkley Point have deepened after a detailed report by HSBC’s energy analysts described eight key challenges to the project, which will be built by the state-backed French firm EDF and be part-financed by investment from China .
(20) The Lords will vote on three key amendments: • To exclude child benefit from the cap calculation (this would roughly halve the number of households affected).
Keystone
Definition:
(n.) The central or topmost stone of an arch. This in some styles is made different in size from the other voussoirs, or projects, or is decorated with carving. See Illust. of Arch.
Example Sentences:
(1) If these is the case the Ir gene (genes) would be the Keystone for maintaining the preferential associations of some pseudoalleles in some haplotypes.
(2) Oil carried by Keystone will displace heavy crude from Venezuela, Nigeria and other countries that also contribute to global warming, Pourbaix said.
(3) The bill, voted through a panel of the house energy and power subcommittee, would compel Obama to over-rule demands for a further review of the project from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and disregard local opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline from landowners along its 1,700-mile route.
(4) But two key Liberal positions, on the Keystone XL and on emissions reductions targets, put Trudeau out of step with Obama, who has made climate change the signature issue of his second term in the White House.
(5) Former hedge fund manager Tom Steyer took out television ads on Tuesday, the night of Obama's state of the union address , attacking Keystone XL, and other wealthy Democratic donors wrote open letters to the White House seeking to shut down the project.
(6) Now that the State Department has just released a final environmental impact report on Keystone XL, which appears to downplay the threat, and greatly increases the odds that the Obama administration will approve the project, I feel I must weigh in once again.
(7) Environmental activists opposed to the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline project protest outside the White House in Washington.
(8) On the campaign trail, however, Clinton had claimed it would be inappropriate to express her views on Keystone given her recent service in Barack Obama’s administration.
(9) The system should include two prehospital and two hospital levels, and the highest level being the keystone of the whole.
(10) A Nebraska court has signed off on the proposed route for the Keystone XL, bringing the controversial project a crucial step closer to reality after six years of legal and political fighting.
(11) The choice President Obama has faced in recent weeks – whether to approve the Keystone XL pipeline – has been framed as a choice between losing the support of environmentalists or alienating America's key ally, Canada.
(12) The company behind the Keystone XL pipeline has asked for its US permit application to be put on hold – a move that would leave the final decision on the controversial tar sands oil project to Barack Obama’s successor.
(13) What makes the Keystone XL pipeline different is the scale – and politics.
(14) One way TransCanada might get around what Clinton called the Keystone “distraction” and pump more tar sands crude into the US might be the Upland pipeline, which the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) has termed a “mini Keystone” .
(15) The virions of CE group viruses (CE, Jamestown Canyon, Keystone, LAC, Melao, SSH, TVT, TAH viruses and South River, an unregistered virus) have three major viral polypeptides, designated G1, G2, and N.
(16) And we saw the Assad regime as the keystone in that arc.
(17) We look forward to the debate and ultimately a decision by the US administration to build Keystone XL,” the company said in a statement.
(18) Greenpeace UK energy campaigner Louise Hutchins said: “The pledge to end dirty coal that David Cameron seems to have casually dropped from his summit speech wasn’t just a footnote but the keystone of any serious policy to clean up Britain’s energy system.
(19) Also speaking at the fossil fuel conference in Houston, ExxonMobil chairman and chief executive Rex Tillerson called for the exploitation of Arctic oil and gas reserves and the building of the Keystone XL pipeline to bring oil from Canada’s tar sands to the US.
(20) This is absolutely not in our national interest.” The campaign against Keystone XL has become a national movement over the last three years, with environmental activists, Nebraska landowners and hedge fund managers all coming out against the project.