[f. TURN v. + KEY sb.]
1. One who has charge of the keys of a prison; a jailer, esp. a subordinate; also transf.
1654. H. L’Estrange, Chas. I. (1655), 106. Mr. Atturney was turn-key, pro tempore, and let them in single at one door.
1680. C. Nesse, Church Hist., 31. God … vouchsaf’d to be Noah’s turnkey.
1791. Boswell, Johnson, an. 1780 (1848), 649/1. Mr. Akerman … ordered the outer turnkey upon no account to open the gate.
1864. Mrs. Carlyle, Lett. (1883), III. 232. He bowed to the judge, and walked away with the turnkey.
1878. Spurgeon, Treas. Dav., Ps. cv. 20. When God means to enlarge his prisoners, kings become his turnkeys.
2. a. ? A burglar’s implement for turning from the outside a key left in the door. ? Obs. b. A tooth-key, formerly used in dentistry; a tooth-wrest.
1803. Sporting Mag., XXII. 126. A Bow-street officer found a little loose powder, a turnkey, and some other trifling articles.
1877. Knight, Dict. Mech., Turnkey, an instrument to extract teeth; not much used now.
