KEYHOLE • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Keyhole

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/kˈihˌoʊl/ Listen

noun

Keyhole n.

A hole or apertupe in a door or lock, for receiving a key.

(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 (Zool.), 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 (Zool.), 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.

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Etymology of 'Keyhole'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Keyhole" Quotes from Famous Books

... hand-vise, with a very powerful grip, and a considerable leverage, which last was accidentally owing to the shape of the handle. Nothing was simpler than, when the key was in the lock, to seize the end of its stem in this vise, through the keyhole, from the outside, and lock the door. Previously, however, to doing this, I burned a number of papers on Simon's hearth. Suicides almost always burn papers before they destroy themselves. I also emptied some more laudanum into Simon's ...

— Masterpieces of Mystery In Four Volumes - Mystic-Humorous Stories • Various

... returns. Simple though it was, this act aroused the first feeling of resentment in my breast, for the relations between the author and his publishers are among the most sacred confidences of life, and the peeping Tom who peers through a keyhole at the courtship of a young man engaged in wooing his fiancee is no worse an intruder than he who would tear aside the veil of secrecy which screens the official returns of a "best seller" from the public eye. Feeling, therefore, that I had permitted matters to ...

— R. Holmes & Co. • John Kendrick Bangs

... herself with a candle and some matches, and as soon as she struck a light, she saw that her surmises were correct. The little gate had just been opened and closed again. The cobwebs round about the bolts were torn and broken; the rust which had filled the keyhole had been removed, and on the dust covering the lock the impress of a hand could be detected. "And I have confided my most precious secrets to this wicked woman!" thought Mademoiselle Marguerite. "Fool ...

— The Count's Millions - Volume 1 (of 2) • Emile Gaboriau

... as soon as the door closed behind the constable, and stuffed a piece of damp sponge into the keyhole; he then returned and took a seat ...

— The Garies and Their Friends • Frank J. Webb

... sharp tug and an inner lining slid outward. From this he drew out a third length, and from that a fourth. His metal cane was in reality an extension rod, not unlike a telescoping fishing-rod. It was fully ten feet long. In its curved handle was a small opening, like a keyhole. Into this Henry jammed the bayonet connection that terminated one of the wires. The other end of the wire he thrust into a like opening in the side of his big fountain pen. Into the opposite side of his pen he fastened one end of his second wire, ...

— The Secret Wireless - or, The Spy Hunt of the Camp Brady Patrol • Lewis E. Theiss

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