KEYED

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does keyed mean? 

• KEYED (adjective)
  The adjective KEYED has 2 senses:

1. fitted with or secured by a key

2. set to a key or tone

  Familiarity information: KEYED used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• KEYED (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Fitted with or secured by a key

Context example:

the locks have not yet been keyed

Antonym:

keyless (lacking or not requiring a key)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Set to a key or tone

Similar:

tonal (having tonality; i.e. tones and chords organized in relation to one tone such as a keynote or tonic)

 Context examples 

On the instant those at the table were keyed up and expectant, the servant was smugly pleased, and he was wallowing in mortification.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Again the professor burst into high-keyed laughter.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Every part, brain and body, nerve tissue and fibre, was keyed to the most exquisite pitch; and between all the parts there was a perfect equilibrium or adjustment.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

There he drowsed, only half asleep, his ears keyed for the first sound of the familiar step.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

He was keyed up to concert pitch, and there was never a moment in the long day when he was not fighting for moments.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

He was always keyed up, alert for attack, wary of being attacked, with an eye for sudden and unexpected missiles, prepared to act precipitately and coolly, to leap in with a flash of teeth, or to leap away with a menacing snarl.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Yet all three animals were keyed to a tenseness of living that was almost painful, and scarcely ever would it come to them to be more alive than they were then in their seeming petrifaction.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

There were the same people, or at least the same sort of people, the same profusion of champagne, the same many-colored, many-keyed commotion, but I felt an unpleasantness in the air, a pervading harshness that hadn't been there before.

(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)