key: (not recorded before S. in the musical senses)
1.
in phr. expressive of control or mastery All'sW. I. i. 77,
H5 II. ii. 96
“Thou that didst bear
the key of all my counsels,”
2H6 I. i. 115
“These counties were the
keys of Normandy,”
Mac. III. vi. 18, Oth. IV. ii. 21.
2.
scheme or system of
tones in which a piece of music is written, being
based on some particular note (called the key-note)
Ado I. i. 194, MND. III. ii. 206; in
fig. phr. Err. V. i. 312,
MND. I. i. 18
“I will wed thee in
another key,”
Mer.V. I. iii. 124,
Troil. I. iii. 53.
3.
tool for tuning
string instruments Tp. I. ii.
83 (fig.) “having both
the key Of officer and office.”
