"key on" meaning in English

See key on in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Forms: keys on [present, singular, third-person], keying on [participle, present], keyed on [participle, past], keyed on [past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|*}} key on (third-person singular simple present keys on, present participle keying on, simple past and past participle keyed on)
  1. (sports) To anticipate a play by watching and analyzing the movements of one's opponent(s). Categories (topical): Sports
    Sense id: en-key_on-en-verb-PmOETms6 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English phrasal verbs formed with "on", Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 88 12 Disambiguation of English phrasal verbs formed with "on": 79 21 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 85 15 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 87 13 Topics: hobbies, lifestyle, sports
  2. (informal) To instruct or make (someone) aware of (something). Tags: informal
    Sense id: en-key_on-en-verb-dbt3SMXS

Inflected forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "keys on",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "keying on",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "keyed on",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "keyed on",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "key on (third-person singular simple present keys on, present participle keying on, simple past and past participle keyed on)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Sports",
          "orig": "en:Sports",
          "parents": [
            "Human activity",
            "Human behaviour",
            "Human",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "88 12",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "79 21",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English phrasal verbs formed with \"on\"",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "85 15",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "87 13",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To anticipate a play by watching and analyzing the movements of one's opponent(s)."
      ],
      "id": "en-key_on-en-verb-PmOETms6",
      "links": [
        [
          "sports",
          "sports"
        ],
        [
          "anticipate",
          "anticipate"
        ],
        [
          "play",
          "play"
        ],
        [
          "watch",
          "watch"
        ],
        [
          "analyzing",
          "analyze"
        ],
        [
          "movement",
          "movement"
        ],
        [
          "opponent",
          "opponent"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(sports) To anticipate a play by watching and analyzing the movements of one's opponent(s)."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "hobbies",
        "lifestyle",
        "sports"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "She keyed me on to the plan.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To instruct or make (someone) aware of (something)."
      ],
      "id": "en-key_on-en-verb-dbt3SMXS",
      "links": [
        [
          "instruct",
          "instruct"
        ],
        [
          "make",
          "make"
        ],
        [
          "aware",
          "aware"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal) To instruct or make (someone) aware of (something)."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "informal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "key on"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English phrasal verbs",
    "English phrasal verbs formed with \"on\"",
    "English verbs",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "keys on",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "keying on",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "keyed on",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "keyed on",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "key on (third-person singular simple present keys on, present participle keying on, simple past and past participle keyed on)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "en:Sports"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To anticipate a play by watching and analyzing the movements of one's opponent(s)."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "sports",
          "sports"
        ],
        [
          "anticipate",
          "anticipate"
        ],
        [
          "play",
          "play"
        ],
        [
          "watch",
          "watch"
        ],
        [
          "analyzing",
          "analyze"
        ],
        [
          "movement",
          "movement"
        ],
        [
          "opponent",
          "opponent"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(sports) To anticipate a play by watching and analyzing the movements of one's opponent(s)."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "hobbies",
        "lifestyle",
        "sports"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English informal terms",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "She keyed me on to the plan.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To instruct or make (someone) aware of (something)."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "instruct",
          "instruct"
        ],
        [
          "make",
          "make"
        ],
        [
          "aware",
          "aware"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal) To instruct or make (someone) aware of (something)."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "informal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "key on"
}

Download raw JSONL data for key on meaning in English (1.6kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-25 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-20 using wiktextract (c15a5ce and 5c11237). 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.