KEYHOLE • DICTIONARY ONE.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

... Ash Goblin that few ever seek his door, and when he heard upon it the sharp knock of Black Shadow, he started with surprise. He crept across the dingy floor, and put his bulging eye to the keyhole to peer through, and discover who stood without. His astonishment at seeing Black Shadow was great, for never had she sought him out before, but he knew that he had no reason to fear her, so he opened to her ...

— The Shadow Witch • Gertrude Crownfield

... when she was so very young that it had become a habit before her parents perceived it. She was a very little creature when she was once nearly squeezed to death between two double doors as she was peeping through the keyhole of one of them to see who was in the drawing-room; and another time she was locked up for several hours in a closet in which she had hid herself for the purpose of overhearing what her mother was saying ...

— Young Folks Treasury, Volume 3 (of 12) - Classic Tales And Old-Fashioned Stories • Various

... it is me that smells frowy," said the boy as he put his thumbs in the armholes of his vest, and spit at the keyhole in the door. "I have ...

— Peck's Compendium of Fun • George W. Peck

... at a bound from such monstrous theology to a towering rage against the Baileys. In an instant and with no sense of absurdity I wanted—in the intervals of love and fine thinking—to fling about that strenuously virtuous couple; I wanted to kick Keyhole of the PEEPSHOW into the gutter and make a common massacre of all the prosperous rascaldom that makes a trade and rule of virtue. I can still feel that transition. In a moment I had reached ...

— The New Machiavelli • Herbert George Wells

... words are uttered, a slouched hat, listening at the keyhole, pops up, moves softly through the hall, and steals down the stairway. Half an hour later the Texan opens the private door of the Richmond House, looks cautiously around for a moment, and then stalks on towards the heart of the city. ...

— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 16, No. 93, July, 1865 • Various

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