keying

Verb

key (third-person singular simple present keys, present participle keying, simple past and past participle keyed)

1. To fit (a lock) with a key.
2. To fit (pieces of a mechanical assembly) with a key to maintain the orientation between them.
3. To mark or indicate with a symbol indicating membership in a class.
   • So I worked on a tissue-paper copy of the perimeter plan, outlining groupings of plants of the same species and keying them with letters for the species.1996 January, Garden Dsign Ideas, second printing, Taunton Press, →ISBN, page 25
4. To depress (a telegraph key).
5. To operate (the transmitter switch of a two-way radio).
6. (more usually to key in) To enter (information) by typing on a keyboard or keypad.
   • Our instructor told us to key in our user IDs.

See all 59 meanings of key