key

key

slang A phonetic shortening of "kilo," referring to a kilogram of some illicit drug. Tom got busted with a key of coke in his trunk. Dude's going away for a long time. The gang smuggled 200 keys of heroin across the border by hiding them in tubs of ice cream.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

key

verb
See K
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions
See:
  • a golden key can open any door
  • church key
  • high-key
  • hold the key
  • hotkey
  • in a minor key
  • in key
  • K
  • key
  • key down
  • key figure
  • key grip
  • key in
  • key into (something)
  • key off
  • key out
  • key to
  • key to (something)
  • key to success
  • key up
  • keyed
  • keyed up
  • keyed up about (something)
  • keyed up over (something)
  • keyed up to the roof
  • latchkey child
  • latchkey kid
  • lock (someone) up and throw away the key
  • low-key
  • modulate to (some other) key
  • modulate to a key
  • off key
  • off-key
  • out of key
  • the keys to the kingdom
  • under lock and key
References in classic literature
To-night he had not snapped, and for the first hour or two he lay remarkably still, until at last Mary heard him rattling his bunch of keys against the tin box which he always kept in the bed beside him.
No sooner had the sounds of their passing died away in the distance than Ghek clambered from the shoulders of his rykor, and scurried to the burrow where he had hidden the key. Fetching it he unlocked the fetter from about the creature's ankle, locked it empty and carried the key farther down into the burrow.
The first guilty act of Boxtel had been to climb over a wall in order to dig up the tulip; the second, to introduce himself into the dry-room of Cornelius, through an open window; and the third, to enter Rosa's room by means of a false key.
In that interval she had searched the sheds from first to last, and had found five more keys. "Five more chances!" she thought to herself, as she hid the keys, and hastily returned to the house.
Tulkinghorn, tapping his chin with the key and looking imperturbably at her, "how this matter stands."
"The bundle is ready," she continued, closing the door after De Vac, who had now entered, "and here be the key; but first let us have a payment.
'By the bye,' it comes into Jasper's mind to say, as he idly examines the keys, 'I have been going to ask you, many a day, and have always forgotten.
"Any news of Miss Verinder's keys?" asked the Sergeant.
"Well," said he, "if you really think I had better go: it would be foolish to bring the key for nothing." And letting himself out, he walked off without farther ceremony.
Verily, like a thousand peals of children's laughter cometh Zarathustra into all sepulchres, laughing at those night-watchmen and grave-guardians, and whoever else rattleth with sinister keys.
As the door closed, Dorian put the key in his pocket and looked round the room.
When Fouquet had satisfied himself that Baisemeaux had reached the bottom of the staircase, he inserted the key in the first lock.
Old John did not walk near the Golden Key, for between the Golden Key and the Black Lion there lay a wilderness of streets--as everybody knows who is acquainted with the relative bearings of Clerkenwell and Whitechapel--and he was by no means famous for pedestrian exercises.
Suddenly she came upon a little three-legged table, all made of solid glass; there was nothing on it except a tiny golden key, and Alice's first thought was that it might belong to one of the doors of the hall; but, alas!
On her way back to the drawing-room she was addressed by a chambermaid in the corridor who asked for her key.