Meaning & use
church key
(Informal, American) A simple metal tool used to open bottle caps and puncture cans.
See it in a sentence
He rummaged through the drawer looking for a church key to open the soda cans.
Old picnic sets often came with a church key attached to a bottle opener.
A note on using this word
Despite the religious-sounding name, a church key has no connection to churches; the origin of the term is uncertain.
Words with a similar meaning
bottle opener
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