| 释义 |
keyhole, n.|ˈkiːhəʊl|
1. a. The hole by which the key is inserted into a lock.
In an ordinary house- or room-door the keyhole usually goes right through, and thus affords opportunities of peeping, listening, etc. which are often alluded to: see the quots.
c1592Marlowe Jew of Malta ii. Wks. (Rtldg.) 138/2 Yet through the key-hole will he talk to her. 1592Nashe P. Penilesse (1843) 57 If I would raunge abroad, and looke in at Sluggards' key-holes. 1635? Herrick Fairy Queen ii. in Hesper. (1869) App. 478 When mortals are at rest..Through key-holes we do glide. a1715Burnet Own Time (1766) II. 212 He looked through the key-hole and there saw him lying dead. 1833N. Arnott Physics (ed. 5) II. 222 A candle carried past a key-hole, throws its light on the opposite wall. 1887Ruskin Præterita II. ii. 52 An ominously æolian keyhole in a vile inn.
b. (See quots.). slang.
1896Farmer & Henley Slang IV. 95/1 Keyhole, the female pudendum. 1927Jrnl. Abnormal & Social Psychol. XXII. 14 Another term for the female organs is cabbage... Other symbols are keyhole and bread. The former is found infrequently.
c. Astronautics. A comparatively narrow area through which a spacecraft must pass to reach its objective. colloq.
1962Times 21 Feb. 10/1 He swept towards the so-called ‘keyhole in the sky’, through which he had to pass if orbit was to be achieved. 1968Daily Tel. 27 Dec. 1/2 It must hit a corridor only 35 miles wide. If it dips below this tiny ‘keyhole in space’, Apollo 8 and its crew will be burned up.
2. A hole made to receive a peg or key used in carpentry or engineering.
1703T. N. City & C. Purchaser 33 Round-bolts..with a Head at one end, and a Key-hole at the other. c1860H. Stuart Seaman's Catech. 61 The lower keyholes should be clear, to allow the water to run out freely.
3. In New Brunswick: A round harbour or cove with narrow entrance.
1896W. F. Ganony in Trans. R. Soc. Canada Ser. ii. II. ii. 210.
4. attrib., as key-hole prospect, keyhole slit, keyhole view; key-hole escutcheon, an escutcheon-shaped plate of metal surrounding a keyhole; keyhole guard, -protector, a metal plate which falls over (or into) and closes a keyhole; keyhole limpet, a gastropod of the family Fissurellidæ, having a shell with an aperture at the apex; keyhole saw, a narrow saw for cutting keyholes, etc.; key-hole urchin, a flattened North American sea-urchin, with openings in the test, belonging to the genus Mellita or closely related genera; keyhole whistler slang (see quot.).
1889Sci. Amer. LXI. 195 Bennett's improved *key-hole guard..preventing any view through the keyhole.
1869J. G. Wood Common Shells 96 In the Tusk-shells there is an aperture at the peak, and the same is the case with the *Key-hole Limpet Fissurella reticulata. 1885Stand. Nat. Hist. I. 320 The Fissurellidæ, or key-hole limpets, are structurally closely allied to the..Haliotidæ.
1851H. Melville Whale xvii. 92 The *key-hole prospect was but a crooked and sinister one.
1816J. Smith Panorama Sc. & Art I. 107 A small kind of compass-saw, called a *Key-hole-saw, is used for quick curves such as key-holes.
1881Gentl. Mag. Jan. 65 A man standing on his head to keep him quiet, and another cutting a ‘*keyhole’ slit in his ear.
1897in Webster, *Key-hole urchin. 1904H. L. Clark in Bull. U.S. Fish. Comm. 1902 XXXII. 565 Mellita pentapora (Gmelin). Key-hole Urchin. 1962D. Nichols Echinoderms v. 76 Among the gnathostomes the clypeasteroid sand-dollars achieve probably the greatest specialization, some, such as the Key-hole Urchin, Rotula, becoming remarkably flat and possessing holes through the test.
1851Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 311 ‘*Keyhole whistlers’, the skipper birds are sometimes called... They start early to good houses for victuals, when gentlefolk are not up.
Hence ˈkeyhole v. intr., (of a bullet in target-practice) to strike the target in such a way as to make a hole of the form of a key-hole.
1890Cent. Dict. cites Reynolds. 1905Kynoch Jrnl. Oct.–Dec. 172 Some of these weapons..shot wildly, the bullet invariably keyholing. 1910Kipling Land & Sea Tales (1923) 190 The bullet must have ricochetted short of the butt, and it has key-holed, as we say. 1957Amer. Speech XXXII. 194 Keyhole, of a bullet: to enter the target with the side foremost so that a rectangular or oblong hole is cut; of a handgun: to shoot bullets that keyhole.
▸ Basketball. The area bounded by the free-throw lane and free-throw circle together.
1941N.Y. Times 26 Mar. 30/1 As the code now stands the ‘keyhole’, as the foul lane and circle is known, is virtually forbidden territory. 1961Holland (Mich.) Evening Sentinel 22 Mar. 14/2 Hatton..popped in the winning basket for the Flyers from the right side of the keyhole just before the buzzer. 1994T. J. Dygard Rebounder (1996) ix. 84 The second half was barely moments old when Alan hit the net from the edge of the keyhole, then promptly stole the ball from a dribbling Bakerville guard.
▸ A very small surgical incision used in a minimally invasive procedure, spec. one used for the insertion of a fibre-optic instrument such as a laparoscope or arthroscope. Chiefly attrib., esp. in keyhole surgery. Also in fig. contexts.
[1980Washington Post (Nexis) 21 June a5 The girl's heart was stopped for 97 seconds Monday to provide surgeons with a clear ‘keyhole’ into her brain while they dissolved the aneurysm.] 1982Associated Press Newswire (Nexis) 2 June The procedure is called ‘keyhole surgery’ because it is performed through a tiny hole in the patient's abdomen. The laser beam..destroys abnormal growths and blockages in the fallopian tubes. 1988Sunday Mail (Brisbane) 1 May 28/6 Never an admirer of ‘keyhole’ surgery, I decided on liberal exposure of the problem. 1994New Scientist 19 Mar. 11/2 Doctors intending to practise ‘keyhole’ surgery will soon be able to train on a virtual reality simulation. 1996Woman's Day (Sydney) 10 June 73/2 Alternatively the entire procedure can be done through the keyhole before the uterus is removed by a special suction system. 2000Brit. Med. Jrnl. (Electronic ed.) 20 May Minimally invasive parathyroidectomy is being promoted with similar enthusiasm to that given to earlier keyhole techniques such as laparoscopic cholecystectomy. |