{
  "id": "key.tool",
  "term": "key",
  "sense": "tool",
  "pos": "noun",
  "status": "review",
  "level": 10,
  "arena": "key.tool",
  "domain": "tool",
  "style": null,
  "definition": "a piece of material that is formed into a shape and can be put in a device",
  "folk_gloss": null,
  "emergence": {
    "components": [
      "piece.portion",
      "material.physical",
      "form.shape",
      "device.tool",
      "put.placement",
      "shape.geometric"
    ],
    "interaction": "the piece of material is formed into a shape that can be put in a device",
    "novel_properties": [
      "compatibility with a device's mechanism",
      "capacity to actuate controlled access",
      "physical key-device fit through shaped alignment"
    ]
  },
  "examples": [
    {
      "text": "The bronze Yale key from 1865 opened the front door of the New Haven workshop nightly.",
      "domain": "engineering"
    },
    {
      "text": "In 1971, a plastic RFID key fob granted access to the Xerox PARC research lab after hours.",
      "domain": "computing"
    },
    {
      "text": "A steel skeleton key once turned the lock on the cell door at Kilmainham Gaol in Dublin.",
      "domain": "institutions"
    }
  ],
  "relations": [],
  "used_by": [
    "password.security"
  ],
  "forms": [
    "key",
    "keyed",
    "keying",
    "keys"
  ],
  "closed": true,
  "provenance": {
    "author": "openrouter:openai/gpt-oss-120b",
    "date": "2026-07-29",
    "confidence": 0.6,
    "reconciled": {
      "by": "openrouter:qwen/qwen3-235b-a22b-2507",
      "date": "2026-07-31",
      "changed": "components",
      "note": "Added device.tool, put.placement, and shape.geometric to align components with the definition's dependencies. Definition remains correct and concise."
    }
  },
  "canonical": "https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-key.tool"
}