key 
uality are contained ; tonality. Thus, a proper 
sense 'of these relations is called a proper sense of key, 
and a duo observance of them puts u performance in 
key. For the dillerence Itetween major and minor keys 
In this sense, see mode, (b) In muxifiit tlimrij and 
notation, the tonality centering in a given tone, 
or the several tones taken collectively, of a 
riven scale, major or minor. The given tone, or 
the first tone of the given scale, is called the key-note, key- 
tone, or tonic; and the key Is named by the name of this 
tone. A scale is simply an arrangement of the tones of 
a key In their melodic order. In modern music, and in 
vocal music gencr.dly, all major keys are Intended to be 
precisely similar to one another, except in pitch, and all 
minor keys likewise similar to one another. Hut in the 
systems of tuning instrument* of fixed intonation before 
the middle of the eighteenth century, certain keys were 
favored and others slighted; so that some keys were very 
useful, and some practically useless. It is said that this 
difference, which was originally incidental to the imper- 
fect plan of the keyboard, and which was to have been 
obliterated by the introduction of the equal temperament, 
Is to some extent unavoidable, certain keys having a 
peculiar quality per se ; but these differences appear, on 
close analysis, to be relative or accidental rather than es- 
sential. (See temperament.) The keyboard of the organ 
and the pianoforte, however, is so planned as to make 
a decided mechanical diiference Iwtween keys or scales 
based on different digitals. For example, the major key 
or scale of the digital called C requires the use of only 
white digitals, or naturals ; hence it Is called (unfortu- 
nately) the natural key. Other keys or scales require 
the use of one or more black digitals, which are called 
either sharps or flats; hence they are called the keys of 
one, two, three, or more sharps or flats, as the cose may 
be. The keys of one or more sharps are called collectively 
the sharp keys; those of one or more flats, the flat keys. 
Practically, keys of more than six sharps or flats ore rarely 
mentioned. (See circle of keys, under circle.) When these 
keys are represented by the stall-notation, the black digi- 
tals are indicated by marks J or \/ prefixed to certain of 
the notes. But since the key in which a piece Is to be 
performed is the some either throughout, or at least for 
extended passages, these sharps or tints are customarily 
grouped into & key-siynature at the beginning of the piece 
or passage, and the effect of this signature is understood 
to continue until contradicted by further signs: thus 
(The crosses mark the degree belonging to the key-note.) 
The sharps and the flats in such signatures are counted 
from left to right ; in sharp signatures the position of the 
key-note Is always one degree above the last sharp, while 
in flat signatures it is always on the same degree with the 
last flat but one. This provides a rule for finding the key- 
note from each signature except those of the keys of C and 
of K The key-notes of the sharp keys, taken in direct or- 
der, are distant from one another either by a fifth upward 
or a fourth downward, as are the key-notes of the flat keys, 
taken in inverse order. These signatures are also used for 
minor keys, the key-notes of such keys being in each case 
two degrees below the key-notes as given for major keys. 
The major and minor keys that use the same signature are 
termed relatives of each other. See relative. {See circle of 
keys, under circle.) The entire system of keys as described 
above Is conditioned upon the keyboard of the organ and 
the pianoforte, and therefore is essentially arbitrary. It 
has no basis in the phenomena of sound or the necessities 
of music as an art. Its complexity is due historically to the 
inadequate medieval theory of music, and secondarily to 
the arbitrary instrumental mechanism and the notation 
that grew out of that theory. Of the many attempts to im- 
prove or replace the system, the tonic sol-fa notation has 
been the most successful. See notation, and tonic sol-fa 
(under tonic). 
Both warbling of one song, both in one key. 
Shak.,M. N. D..UI. 2, 206. 
Thy false uncle, . . . having both the key 
Of officer and office, set all hearts 1' the state 
To what tune pleased his ear. 
Shak., Tempest, i. 2, 83. 
3279 
Analytical key, In but. See analytic. -Attendant keys. 
Some as relative keys. Authentic key. See mode. 
Character of scales and keys. See character. Chro- 
matic key, in music : (a) A black key (digital) on the ki-y- 
board ; a chromatic : opposed to diatonic or natural key. 
(b) A key (tonality) which on the keyboard involves the 
use of one or more black or chromatic keys (digitals), and 
on the stall necessitates a signature of one or more sharps 
or flats. Closed-circuit key, continuity-preserving 
key. See telegraph..- Dental key, a form of lifting for- 
ceps for extracting teeth. Diatonic key. Same as natu- 
ral key (aX Dlchotomous key, In not. hist. See dicho- 
tmnota. Extreme key. in music. Set extreme. False 
key, a key used or that may be used as a picklock. 
Fundamental key, governing key, the key (tonality) 
in which a piece of music begins aim ends. See oriijiiud 
key.Qtt) and key. Seeyiti. Key of the Nile, a name 
sometimes given to the crux ansata, or ankh. See ankh. 
Major key, in music, a key (tonality) characterized by a 
major third, a major sixth, and a major seventh : opposed 
to minor key. See major, scale, and tonality. Minor key, 
In music, a key (tonality) characterized by a minor third, 
and often by a minor sixth and even a minor seventh: op- 
posed to major key. See minor, scale, and tonality. Morse 
key. See telegraph. Natural key, in music: (a) A 
white key (digital) on the keyboard ; a natural : opjxjsed 
to chromatic key. Also called diatonic key. (b) The major 
key (tonality) of C : so called because on the keyboard It 
involves the use of only white digitals, or natural*. 
Open-circuit key. See tdeyraph. Original key, the 
key (tonality) in which a piece of music begins, or In which 
It was originally written. Parallel key. in music, the 
relative minor key (tonality) In comparison with the 
major, or vice versa. See relative key. Pedal key, one 
of the levers of the pedal keyboard in an organ, corre- 
sponding to a digital of a manual keyboard ; a pedaL 
Plagalkey. See mode. Power of the keys, an authority 
saldto be conferred by Christ upon Peter, or upon Peter and 
the other apostles, by the words In Mat. xvi. 19 : In ecclesias- 
tical literature generally applied to an authority claimed to 
reside in the hierarchy for the ministry and government of 
the church. There are four principal Interpretations of the 
power of the keys: (1) the papal that it was given to Peter 
and his successors In office, the popes ; (2) the Protestant 
ecclesiastical that it was given to Peter and the Twelve, 
and their successors in office, the clergy of the Christian 
church; (3) the Protestant historical that It was given 
only to Peter and his co-disciples, and received its entire 
fulfilment In their inspired ministry and administration of 
the church; (4) the Independent that it was given to 
all Christ's disciples, and confers upon them coequal au- 
thority in both Christian and church life. Queen's keys, 
in Scott law, that part of a warrant which authorizes the 
forcible opening of lockfast places In order to come at 
a debtor or his goods. Relative keys. See relative. 
Remote key. In music, a key (tonality) having few or no 
tones in common with a given key, and therefore but dis- 
tantly related to it harmonically. Reversing key. See 
telegraph, Skeleton key, a thin, light key with nearly 
the whole substance of the bits filed away, so that it may 
be less obstructed by the words of a lock. To have the 
key of the street, to be locked out of a house ; have no 
house to go to. [Colloq. and humorous.) 
"There," said Lowten, "It's too late now; you can't get 
In to-night ; you've got the key of the street, my friend. " 
Dickens, Pickwick, xlvlL 
Tuning-key. See above, def. 3 (AX 
key 1 (ke),. t. [<key\ n.] 1. To fasten with a 
key, or with a wedge-shaped piece of wood or 
metal ; fasten or secure firmly. 
Heuene gate was keithed [read keijed] clot 
Til lambe of love now he deyede. 
Holy Rood (E. E. T. S.), p. 205. 
Thus the head may be keyed to the bar at any part of the 
length of the latter. J. Rose, Practical Machinist, p. 181. 
2. To regulate the tone of by the use of a key, 
or to set to a key or pitch in any way, as a 
musical instrument: as, to key up a violin. 
Whose speech and gesture were clearly keyed to that 
profound respect which Is woman's first foundation claim 
on man. O. W. Cable, The Grandlssimes, p. 173. 
These speeches ore always short, simple, plain and un- 
pretentious. They are keyed in the note of perfect good 
taste, and never fail to please the audience to which they 
are addressed. 7*. C. Crawford, English Life, p. 81. 
keyboard 
The Keys proper |of Florida] are all similar In structure, 
and form an extensive chain of low islands, rising nowhere 
more than twelve feet above the level of the tea. Start- 
ing from north of Cape Florida, they form an Immense 
crescent extending as far west as the Tortugas. 
A. Agattiz, Three Cruises of the Blake, I. 63. 
Key 4 (ke), . See Keys. 
key-action (ko'ak'shou), n. In musical instru- 
ments like the organ or the pianoforte, the en- 
tire mechanism directly connected with the 
keyboard, including the keyboard itself, the 
jacks or stickers, the dampers, etc. 
' 
. , . 
orig. key-age.] See quayage. K. Phillips, 1706. 
keyakl (ka-ya'ki), . [Jan.] A valuable tim- 
ber-tree of Japan, the Zelkova acuminate. Its 
wood is prized, and is used extensively in cabi- 
net-making, etc. 
key-basket (ke'bas'ket), n. A basket to con- 
tain a housekeeper's keys. 
A mob-cap covering her gray hair, and key-basket In 
hand, the wife of Washington must have offered a pleas- 
ant picture. The Century, XiXVIL 841. 
key-bed (ko'bed), . In much., a rectangular 
groove made to receive a key for the purpose of 
Binding parts, as the wheel and shaft of a ma- 
chine, firmly together, so as to prevent the one 
part from turning on the other; a key-seat. 
keyboard (ke'bord), n. In the organ, piano- 
forte, and similar instruments, as the harpsi- 
chord, clavichord, etc., the series or horizon- 
tal row of finger-levers or digitals (usually 
called keys), by depressing which the per- 
former causes the pipes, strings, or reeds to 
produce tones. The visible portions of part of the keys 
are white, while the others are black. The black keyi 
are the shorter, and are raised above the level of the white 
keys ; they are always separated from one another by one 
Hilton, Apology for Smectymnuus. 
(c) Iii Hiimiriil iiotiitioii,* sign at the head of 
a staff indicating the key as above denned. 
Hence 8. Scale ' 
pitch; elevation. 
There 's one speaks In a key like the opening of some 
justice's gate, or a postboy's horn. 
B. Jonson, Cynthia's Revels, iv. 1. 
Her dumb play from the flret to the last moment of the 
scene was in as high a /.'// as her elocution. 
C. Keade, Art, p. 18. 
9. A dry winged fruit like that of maple, ash, 
elm, etc.; a samara. See cut under Jeer. 
Lingua avis is the sede of asshe trees that hath leves in 
maner of burdcs tonges, and some call them keyes. 
Orete Berball. 
The Ash, Elm, Tilia, I'oplar, Hornbeam, Willow, Bailees 
are distinguished by their Keys, Tongues, Samera, Peri- 
corpia, and Theca, small, flat, and husky skins including 
the seeds. Evelyn, Sylva, ii. 
10f. A rudder: u helm. 
He is as a kei/f and a stiere (tr. L. clavus ataw gubrnia- 
culmn] by which that the edifice of this world is kept 
stable. Chaucer, Boetbius, 111. prose 12. 
?. quai, the pronunciation, however, 
remaining that of the reg. E. form key); < ME. 
key, keye (= D. kaai = LG. l-aje = G. kai = Sw. 
kaj = Dan. kai; ML. caium), < OF. caye, quai, 
7. i/iini. a wharf, prob. < Bret, kai, an in- 
A wharf. See quay. 
Xolo [It], a wharf e or hithe by the water side made by 
orte ; we properly coll it a key. Florio, 1598. 
Item, that the slippe and the keye and the pavyment 
ther be ouerseyn and repared. 
Ordinances of Worcester, English Gilds (E. E. T. S-X p. 374. 
It has twelve fatre churches, many noble houses, espe- 
cioly y 3 L* 1 Devereux's : a brave kay and commodious har- 
bor. Evelyn, Diary, July 8, 1656. 
Lord! to see how he [Carteret] wondered to see the 
river so empty of boats, nobody working at the Custom e- 
House keys. Pepys, Diary, Nov. 7, 1665. 
island, a sandbank, key; perhaps = OF. caye, 
F. quai, a wharf: see tey 2 .] A low island near 
the coast : used especially on the coasts of re- 
gions where Spanish is or formerly was spo- 
ken: as, the Florida kci/.--. 
Columbus discovered no isle or key o lonely as himself. 
Emerton, Society and Solitude. 
-* * t/fun up a- " 
Keyboard of a Piano, showing two octaves. 
or two white keys, so as to form groups alternately of two 
and three. The depression of which the keys ore capable 
Is technically called the "dip." The keyboard contains 
altogether from fifty to ninety keys, the ratio of white to 
block being 7:5. The right-hand end of the keyboard 
Is called the upper, because the keys there produce high 
tones, and the left-hand end Is correspondingly called the 
lower. The white key next below (to the left of) the upper 
key of every group of three black keys Is called A ; the next 
white key to the right of this Is called B ; the next Is 
called C ; and so on, up to O, next to which another A Is 
found. In Germany, by a curious difference of nomen- 
clature, B Is always called H, and Bb is called B. (See 
B iruadratum and B rotundum, under B.) In tuning, the 
tones produced by the various keys called by the same 
letter-name are made exact octaves of each other. The 
black keys are named by reference to the white keys on 
either side of them : thus, the black key between A and 
B Is either AJ or Bjj, that between C and D Is either CJ or 
D(,. etc. When a white key Is to be specially distin- 
guished from a black one, It Is called a natural: hence 
a scale or series of tones produced by using only white keys 
Is called the natural tcale, and Its key (tonality) is called 
the natural key. (See keyl.) In general, a key next on the 
right to any given key Is the sharp of the latter, and the 
second key to the right is its double sharp; while a key 
next on the left to any given key b> the fat of the latter, 
and the second key to the left Is Its double flat. Thus, 
every key on the keyboard, except the black key called 
either GJ or Aj>, has three names : as A = Gs = Bst,, B = 
Ax = Cfr, C = BJ = DfcK, etc.; A- = Bfc = CWj, CJ = = 
Bx, etc. (See Jlatl and sharp.) The several keys and oc- 
Uvesare usually calculated from middle C theC nearest 
the center of the keyboard, and historically the middle 
tone of the medieval hexachord system (see hexachord) 
the vibration-number of whose tone is theoretically from 
260 to 265. (See C.) The keyboard of the organ usually 
extends four to five octaves, from the second C below 
middle C to the third A or C above middle C; that of the 
pianoforte usually extends six to seven or seven and a third 
octaves, from the third A below middle C to the fourth A 
or C above middle C. The organ usually has keyboards 
both for the hands and for the feet, the former being dis- 
tinguished as manual keyboards or manuals, the latter as 
pedal keyboards or pedals; and there are usually two or 
more manual keyboards, each with its own sets of pipes or 
stops, and capable of being used either independently or 
in conjunction with the others. The principal keyboard Is 
that of the great organ ; that above ft is that of the swell 
organ; that below It (when there are three\ that of the 
choir organ. (See organ.) In the old harpsichords and 
similar Instruments two keyboards were sometimes pro- 
vided, the one producing tones of different quality or 
force from the other. The keyboard has been developed 
gradually. Its first appearance was about the end of the 
eleventh century, when large levers that could be manip- 
ulated only by the whole hand or a blow of the flst, hav- 
ing a dtp of several Inches or even a foot, were Intro- 
duced into the organ, and later Into the clavichord and 
