Key

KEY, sb. and v.1 Var. dial. uses in Sc. and Eng. Also written keigh Lan.; and in forms kay Chs.1 s.Wor.1 Shr.1; kye Nhb.1; kyoy se.Wor.1; pl. keyn Wil.1 [ki, kei, ke.] 1. sb. In phr. (1) to have the key of the street, to be locked out; (2) to seek for a key that is in the lock, to waste time on unnecessary or superfluous work; (3) the Bible and key fortune, a mode of divination; see Bible, sb.2; (4) to wear the keys, to have the domestic management. (1) w.Yks. He's got t'key o' th' street and sarve him right (H.L.). Slang. You can't get in to-night, you've got the key of the street, Dickens Pickwick (1836) xlvii; Farmer. (2) e.Sc. Sandy Briggs kept telling them, they were ‘seekin' for a key that was i' the lock,’ Setoun Sunshine (1895) 300. (3) Lan. Yan o' t'lasses said that she wad like to try t'Bible an' keigh fortun', Eavesdropper Vill. Life (1869) No. 9. (4) n.Cy. (Hall.) 2. Comb. (1) Key-ball, a fir-cone, the fruit of Pinus sylvestris; (2) Key-beam, the top beam in a ceiling or roof; (3) Key-bed, the cavity in a shaft on which a wheel has to be secured by means of iron keys; (4) Key-beer, ale or beer of a better sort, kept under lock and key, or having a lock-cock in the cask; (5) Key-bit, (a) to mark a sheep by taking two or three bits out of the ear; (b) a peculiar kind of bit; see below; (6) Key-cold, cold as a key, stone-cold, quite cold; (7) Key-flower, the primrose, Primula vulgaris; (8) Key-hold, house property with no legal owner, and claimed by the occupier; (9) Key-hole whistler, a night's lodger in a barn or outhouse; a ‘skipper-bird’; (10) Key-loke, an armful of hay put on each corner of a cart in loading it; (11) Key-stone, (a) the crowning point, the climax; cf. 3; (11) (b) in phr. key under the hearth, key under the horse's belly, see below; (12) key-way, (13) key-way-groove, a groove into which a key or wedge is run to prevent a pulley slipping on a shaft. (1) Dev.4 (2) Cor. The garret was piled from the floor to the key-beams with fleeces of wool, Hunt Pop. Rom. w.Eng. (1865) 241, ed. 1896; They were playing all sorts of pranks on the keybeams and rafters, HUNT Pop. Rom. w.Eng. 112. (3) w.Yks. (B.K.) (4) e.An.1 e.Suf. Obsol. (F.H.) Ken. Grose (1790). (5, a) Cum. Every shepherd's flock hes some variety in ear-marking;.. sometimes we take two or three bits out of the ear, and we call it key-bitted, Helvellyn in Cornh. Mag. (Oct. 1890) 387. (b) n.Lin.1 A kind of bit used by horsebreakers with objects like keys hanging from it which cause the saliva to flow and hinder the mouth from becoming sore. (6) Kcb. God forgive the nobility; for they are either key-cold, or ready to welcome Popery, Wodrow Sel. Biog. (ed. 1845-1847) I. 397. I.Ma. The word was scarce out of his mouth when he was key-cold in a minute, and gone into the night of all flesh that's lost, Caine Manxman (1894) pt. VI. xiii. (7) Dev. Pale starry primroses... The sailor nipped off one of the flowers:.. he remembered that the country folk about there call it the key-flower, and gathered it with some vague hope that it might help to unlock the heart of Hannah Spearman, Dalzell 'Anner in Cassell's Fam. Mag. (Apr. 1895) 330. (8) s.Wor.1 (9) Lon. ‘Keyhole whistlers,’ the skipper-birds are sometimes called, but they are regular travellers, Mayhew Lond. Labour (1851) I. 311. (10) Nhb.1 (11, a) Lakel.2 Ah've kent many a queer 'un, but si'sta thoo's t'keystan o' t'lot. (b) Hmp.1 Everywhere was understood the smuggler's local proverb, ‘Keystone under the hearth, keystone under the horse's belly,’ i.e. the smuggled spirits were concealed either below the fire-place, or in the stable, just beneath where the horse stood, Wise New Forest (1883) 170. (12, 13) s.Yks. (W.S.) 3. Fig. The crowning point, the best part. w.Som.1 ‘I do not like that window at all.’ ‘Not like thick winder! why, I zim he's the very kay o' the work.’ 4. pl. The seed-vessels of the ash, sycamore, and maple. Sc. (Jam.) Nhb.1 A bunch of these keys carried in the hand was supposed to be a charm against witchcraft. w.Yks.2 w.Yks.4, Chs.1 Chs.3, nw.Der.1, n.Lin.1, Lei.1 Nhp.1 If there is a scarcity of ash-keys, a superstition prevails that some member of the royal family will die within the year. War.2 War.3, Shr.1 Glo. The ashes are weighed down with their ‘keys,’ Ellacombe Garden (1895) vi. Hnt. (T.P.F.), Suf.1 Ken.1 The sycamore is a quick-growing tree, but troublesome near a house, because the keys do get into the gutters so. Sur.1 Hmp. Many ash trees bear loads of keys every year, White Selborne (1789) 299, ed. 1853; Hmp.1, I.W.1 Wil. The keys of the sycamore twirling aslant, Jefferies Hdgrow. (1889) 46; Wil.1 n.Wil. What a lot o' them aishen keyn thur is about to year (E.H.G.). Dor. (C.W.), Dor.1, Dev.4 Hence Keylock, sb. the pod containing the seed of the sycamore. e.Lan.1 5. A spanner or screw wrench. Sc. (A.W.), w.Yks. (J.W.), s.Chs.1 w.Som.1 This has its place on every sull, by which the screws to regulate and adjust the several parts, are turned. Any common screw-spanner is called a key. 6. pl. Obs. Pins put in perpendicularly to fasten the loose shelvings of a wagon. e.Yks. The foreman is to bee forewarned that he seeke out some keyes and false shelvings, Best Rur. Econ. (1641) 48. 7. pl. Part of a handloom, used to tighten or slacken ‘setting up.’ w.Yks. (S.P.U.) 8. Obs. A wedge for keeping the coulter of an old-fashioned wooden plough in its place and at a proper angle to the beam. Shr.1 9. The holding mortar, in plastering, at the back of the laths. w.Som.1 No odds how much hair's in it, he on't bide if there id'n a good key, i.e. the ceiling will not stay up. 10. pl. Stones lying between fissures in freestone quarries. Cum. In certain freestone quarries ‘the intermediate stones laying between those fissures are called keys by the quarrymen,’ Hutchinson Hist. Cum. (1794) II. 443. 11. pl. ? Obs. Iron tips used for shoeing bullocks. Shr.1 12. Tune, harmony. se.Wor.1 Yŭ byunt in kyoy, be yŭ? 13. A tuning-fork. n.Lin.1 14. Fig. Mood, frame of mind, condition. Arg. In another key I might be having a glass with you over such friendship, Munro Lost Pibroch (1896) 280. Dmb. Whan your auntie's in an ill-key, she gars folk hear that's no hearknin', Cross Disruption (1844) ii. Rnf. I'm in kee to rest me in your hole a wee, Picken Poems (1813) I. 64. Lnk. Tell him, when in the touzie key, A nicht wi' him I wadna gie For much an' mair, Murdoch Doric Lyre (1873) 57. Gall. He would be in no key for running, Crockett Grey Man (1896) 103. n.Cy. (J.W.) 15. v. To lock, fasten with a key. Sh.I. He ax'd me if I'd key'd da door o' my room, Clark N. Gleams (1898) 94. Nhb.1 s.Pem. Laws Little Eng. (1888) 420; Key the door (E.D.); N. & Q. (1887) 7th S. iii. 129. 16. To fasten with a wedge. Nhb.1 Kyed-up, wedged up, as a rail is keyed in a railway chair. 17. To bind or make round the top of a well, &c., with timber or masonry. Shr.1

KEY, adj. and v.2 Lakel. Cum. Yks. Lan. Chs. Also written keigh- w.Yks. Lan.1; keyh- Lan. (Hall.); and in form kay- Chs.1 [kei.] 1. adj. In comb. (1) Key-dall, Key-dawl, or Key-dawled, (2) Key-dollocker, (3) Key-fisted, left-handed; (4) Key-leg, a crooked or bandy leg; (5) Key-legged, knock-kneed, crooked; (6) Key-neive, the left hand; (7) Key-neived or Key-keneav't, see (3); (8) Key-paw, (a) see (6); (b) see (3); (9) Key-pawed, (10) Key-wusk, see (3); (11) Key-wuss, see (6). Cf. car, adj. (1) w.Yks. Leeds Merc. Suppl. (July 14, 1894). w.Yks. Dyer Dial. (1891) 26. (2) w.Yks. Leeds Merc. Suppl. (July 14, 1894). (3) m.Lan.1, Chs.1 (4) w.Yks. It [a donkey] lewked odd wi' wun ee, it hed three keigh legs, Hartley Clock Alm. (1894) 9. (5) Lakel.2, Cum.4 w.Yks. He wor fearfully key-legged, Hartley Clock Alm. (1873) 49; (J.W.) (6) e.Lan.1 (7) w.Yks. Leeds Merc. Suppl. (July 14, 1894). Lan. Is this mon keighneived? Wood Hum. Sketches 100; Keneav't Ehud went an stabt a grete fat baws'n king, Wilson Plebeian Pol. (1798) 31, ed. 1801; Lan.1 Malformed, applied to the hand, and referring to a hand chronically shut or half-shut. ‘Had he a hair-shorn lip?’ ‘Ay, he had! An' he wur keigh-neighvt!’ Waugh Besom Ben (1865) vii. s.Lan. (F.E.T.) (8, a) s.Chs.1 Ey bruwt dhaat· ky'ee·-pau· u iz·n daayn ŭpon· ĭm widh ŭ praat·i foa·s [Hey browt that key-paw o his'n daïn upon him with a pratty force]. (b) Lan. Common in and about Bury (R.P.). (9) s.Chs.1 (10) Lan. Reethonded or keigh-wusk, Clegg Sketches (1895) 367. (11) Lan. (Hall.) 2. v. To twist, bend, used esp. of the legs when twisted through illness, &c. Lakel.2 When t'maut gits intul a chap's legs an' they plet a bit as he stackers frae yah side o' t'looanen tul tudder, he's keyen a bit an' his legs is keyed. [1. Sw. dial. kaja, the left hand, kaj-händ, ‘sinister’ (Rietz); NFris. kei, ‘gauche, ungeschickt im Reden’ (Outzen); see Katy-handed. (1) With key-dall cf. kibble-doll.]

KEY, sb. Yks. The slip of wood used to protect a saw. (E.S.)