Meaning & use
Keying
Last updated
Entering data using a keyboard; also, informally, scratching a vehicle's paint with a key or sharp object as an act of vandalism.
See it in a sentence
The clerk spent the morning keying customer information into the new database.
Someone was caught on camera keying cars in the parking lot overnight.
A note on using this word
The vandalism sense of "keying" a car became common slang in the late 20th century and refers specifically to using a key to scratch a vehicle's surface.
Words with a similar meaning
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Another way to use it
2. verb
In video and photo editing, to combine two images by removing a background color, such as green screen keying.
The editor spent hours keying the actor out of the green screen footage.
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