night key

noun

An Americanism dating back to 1830–40

Didn't me and the fellers have to cave in your door with a night-key wrench—sa-a-ay?

All my lodgers were in but one, a young gentleman who has a night-key.

Mr. Stanford opened it with a night-key, and they entered, and went upstairs, still in silence.

Theodore applied his night-key, and with cat-like tread they moved across the hall, and the library door swung noiselessly open.

The door is opened before he can turn the bolt with his night-key, and the whitest possible little hand presses his.

April 20, 2024flabbergast

[flab-er-gast ]

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