1. n. A knob or disc that is passed through a loop or (buttonhole), serving as a fastener.
April fastened the buttons of her overcoat to keep out the wind.
2. n. A mechanical device meant to be pressed with a finger in order to open or close an electric circuit or to activate a mechanism.
Pat pushed the button marked "shred" on the blender.
3. n. (graphical user interface) An on-screen control that can be selected as an activator of an attached function.
Click the button that looks like a house to return to your browser's home page.
4. n. (US) A badge worn on clothes, fixed with a pin through the fabric.
The politician wore a bright yellow button with the slogan "Vote Smart" emblazoned on it.
5. n. (botany) A bud.
6. n. (slang) The clitoris.
7. n. (curling) The center (bullseye) of the house.
8. n. (fencing) The soft circular tip at the end of a foil.
9. n. (poker) A plastic disk used to represent the person in last position in a poker game; also dealer's button.
10. n. (poker) The player who is last to act after the flop, turn and river, who possesses the button.
11. n. A raised pavement marker to further indicate the presence of a pavement marking painted stripe.
12. n. (South Africa, slang) A methaqualone tablet (used as a recreational drug).
13. n. A piece of wood or metal, usually flat and elongated, turning on a nail or screw, to fasten something, such as a door.
14. n. A globule of metal remaining on an assay cupel or in a crucible, after fusion.
15. n. A knob; a small ball; a small, roundish mass.
16. n. A small white blotch on a cat's coat.
17. n. (archaic) A unit of length equal to 1/12 of an inch.
18. n. The means for initiating a nuclear strike or similar cataclysmic occurrence.
19. n. (lutherie) In a violin-family instrument, the near semi-circular shape extending from the top of the back plate of the instrument, meeting the heel of the neck.
20. n. (lutherie) (synonym of endbutton).
21. n. (lutherie, bowmaking) (synonym of adjuster).
22. n. The least amount of care or interest; a whit or jot.
23. n. (comedy) The final joke at the end of a comedic act (such as a sketch, set, or scene).
Your sketch was hilarious but the button didn't even make me laugh, which is a problem; the button should be the strongest line in your scene.
24. v. To fasten with a button.
25. v. (intransitive) To be fastened by a button or buttons.
1. n. An object designed to open and close a lock.
2. n. An object designed to fit between two other objects (such as a shaft and a wheel) in a mechanism and maintain their relative orientation.
3. n. A crucial step or requirement.
The key to solving this problem is persistence.
the key to winning a game
4. n. A guide explaining the symbols or terminology of a map or chart; a legend.
The key says that A stands for the accounting department.
5. n. A guide to the correct answers of a worksheet or test.
Some students cheated by using the answer key.
6. n. (computing) One of several small, usually square buttons on a typewriter or computer keyboard, mostly corresponding to text characters.
Press the Escape key.
7. n. (music) One of a number of rectangular moving parts on a piano or musical keyboard, each causing a particular sound or note to be produced.
8. n. (music) One of various levers on a musical instrument used to select notes, such as a lever opening a hole on a woodwind.
9. n. (music) A hierarchical scale of musical notes on which a composition is based.
the key of B-flat major
10. n. (figurative) The general pitch or tone of a sentence or utterance.
11. n. (botany) An indehiscent, one-seeded fruit furnished with a wing, such as the fruit of the ash and maple; a samara.
12. n. (historical) A manual electrical switching device primarily used for the transmission of Morse code.
13. n. (cryptography) A piece of information (e.g. a passphrase) used to encode or decode a message or messages.
14. n. (internet) A password restricting access to an IRC channel.
15. n. (databases) In a relational database, a field used as an index into another table (not necessarily unique).
16. n. (computing) A value that uniquely identifies an entry in a container.
17. n. (basketball) The free-throw lane together with the circle surrounding the free-throw line, the free-throw lane having formerly been narrower, giving the area the shape of a skeleton key hole.
He shoots from the top of the key.
18. n. (biology) A series of logically organized groups of discriminating information which aims to allow the user to correctly identify a taxon.
19. n. (architecture) A piece of wood used as a wedge.
20. n. (architecture) The last board of a floor when laid down.
21. n. (masonry) A keystone.
22. n. That part of the plastering which is forced through between the laths and holds the rest in place.
23. n. (rail transport) A wooden support for a rail on the bullhead rail system.
24. n. The degree of roughness, or retention ability of a surface to have applied a liquid such as paint, or glue.
The door panel should be sanded down carefully to provide a good key for the new paint.
25. n. (cartomancy) The thirty-third card of the Lenormand deck.
26. n. (print and film) The black ink layer, especially in relation to the three color layers of cyan, magenta, and yellow. See also CMYK.
27. n. (computer graphics, television) A color to be masked or made transparent.
28. adj. Indispensable, supremely important.
He is the key player on his soccer team.
29. adj. Important, salient.
She makes several key points.
30. v. To fit (a lock) with a key.
31. v. To fit (pieces of a mechanical assembly) with a key to maintain the orientation between them.
32. v. To mark or indicate with a symbol indicating membership in a class.
33. v. (telegraphy and radio telegraphy) To depress (a telegraph key).
34. v. (radio) To operate (the transmitter switch of a two-way radio).
35. v. (computing) (more usually to key in) To enter (information) by typing on a keyboard or keypad.
Our instructor told us to key in our user IDs.
36. v. (colloquial) To vandalize (a car, etc.) by scratching with an implement such as a key.
He keyed the car that had taken his parking spot.
37. v. To link (as one might do with a key or legend).
38. v. (intransitive, biology, chiefly taxonomy) To be identified as a certain taxon when using a key.
39. v. To fasten or secure firmly; to fasten or tighten with keys or wedges.
40. n. One of a string of small islands.
the Florida Keys
41. n. alternative form of quay.
42. n. (slang) (clipping of kilogram) (though this is more commonly shortened to kay).
peony
peony
1. n. A flowering plant of the genus Paeonia with large fragrant flowers.
