Word.ws English Dictionary

key to the midway

key to the midway noun: a fictional item, the subject of a fool's errand.

Noun

key to the midway (plural keys to the midway)

  1. A fictional item, the subject of a fool's errand.
    • Near-synonyms: skyhook, left-handed monkey wrench, left-handed smoke shifter, blinker fluid, muffler bearing, relative bearing grease, pigeon's milk
  2. A Ferris wheel or carousel, due to their central location.
    • “I’m a wheel man,” he says. “I’ve been crazy about Ferris wheels since I was a kid. The Ferris wheel is the key to the midway. When it’s up and running and the lights are on, everybody knows the show is open.”1985, Rob Karwath, “The Gritty Side Of Life Along The Midway”, Chicago Tribune, August 14, 1985

Synonyms of key to the midway

Forms of key to the midway

pluralkeys to the midway

Origin of key to the midway

Carny slang, from the custom of sending a rube on a quest for the (non-existent) “key to the midway”.

Questions about key to the midway

What does key to the midway mean?
Key to the midway means a fictional item, the subject of a fool's errand.
What part of speech is key to the midway?
Key to the midway is a noun.
What is the plural of key to the midway?
The plural of key to the midway is keys to the midway.

Words near key to the midway in the dictionary

  1. key stages
  2. key stretching
  3. key to the city
  4. key to the door
  5. key to the kingdom
  6. key to the midway
  7. key up
  8. key visual
  9. key visuals
  10. Key West
  11. key word

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: key to the midway (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “key to the midway.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/key_to_the_midway. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.