"key to the midway" meaning in All languages combined

See key to the midway on Wiktionary

Noun [English]

Forms: keys to the midway [plural]
Etymology: Carny slang, from the custom of sending a rube on a quest for the (non-existent) “key to the midway”. Head templates: {{en-noun|keys to the midway}} key to the midway (plural keys to the midway)
  1. A fictional item, the subject of a fool's errand. Synonyms (fictional item): left-handed monkey wrench, left-handed smoke shifter, pigeon's milk, skyhook
    Sense id: en-key_to_the_midway-en-noun-qjN23o5k Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 78 22 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 77 23 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 81 19 Disambiguation of 'fictional item': 96 4
  2. A Ferris wheel or carousel, due to their central location.
    Sense id: en-key_to_the_midway-en-noun-VtjNMb-4
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Related terms: red herring

Inflected forms

{
  "etymology_text": "Carny slang, from the custom of sending a rube on a quest for the (non-existent) “key to the midway”.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "keys to the midway",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "keys to the midway"
      },
      "expansion": "key to the midway (plural keys to the midway)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "_dis1": "55 45",
      "word": "red herring"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "78 22",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "77 23",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "81 19",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A fictional item, the subject of a fool's errand."
      ],
      "id": "en-key_to_the_midway-en-noun-qjN23o5k",
      "links": [
        [
          "fool's errand",
          "fool's errand"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "96 4",
          "sense": "fictional item",
          "word": "left-handed monkey wrench"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "96 4",
          "sense": "fictional item",
          "word": "left-handed smoke shifter"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "96 4",
          "sense": "fictional item",
          "word": "pigeon's milk"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "96 4",
          "sense": "fictional item",
          "word": "skyhook"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1985, Rob Karwath, “The Gritty Side Of Life Along The Midway”, Chicago Tribune, August 14, 1985",
          "text": "“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.”",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A Ferris wheel or carousel, due to their central location."
      ],
      "id": "en-key_to_the_midway-en-noun-VtjNMb-4",
      "links": [
        [
          "Ferris wheel",
          "Ferris wheel"
        ],
        [
          "carousel",
          "carousel"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Carny"
  ],
  "word": "key to the midway"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Carny slang, from the custom of sending a rube on a quest for the (non-existent) “key to the midway”.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "keys to the midway",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "keys to the midway"
      },
      "expansion": "key to the midway (plural keys to the midway)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "red herring"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "A fictional item, the subject of a fool's errand."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "fool's errand",
          "fool's errand"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1985, Rob Karwath, “The Gritty Side Of Life Along The Midway”, Chicago Tribune, August 14, 1985",
          "text": "“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.”",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A Ferris wheel or carousel, due to their central location."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Ferris wheel",
          "Ferris wheel"
        ],
        [
          "carousel",
          "carousel"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "sense": "fictional item",
      "word": "left-handed monkey wrench"
    },
    {
      "sense": "fictional item",
      "word": "left-handed smoke shifter"
    },
    {
      "sense": "fictional item",
      "word": "pigeon's milk"
    },
    {
      "sense": "fictional item",
      "word": "skyhook"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Carny"
  ],
  "word": "key to the midway"
}

Download raw JSONL data for key to the midway meaning in All languages combined (1.6kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-02-26 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-02-21 using wiktextract (ce0be54 and f2e72e5). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.