Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A can or bottle opener having a usually triangular head.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A can opener having a triangular tip that pierces the can.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun can opener that has a triangular pointed end that pierces the tops of cans

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From the resemblance of the cap-gripping end of some bottle openers to the ornamental handles of large keys, such as those used to lock church doors.]

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word church key.

Examples

    Sorry, no example sentences found.

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • I suppose the time is coming when nobody will know what this refers to (other than a an *actual* church key, that is)! Everything is pull-tab and twist-top these days.

    May 22, 2007

  • A shame, really. It will be a loss.

    (Umm... what's a church key?)

    May 22, 2007

  • A bottle opener (see here).

    May 22, 2007

  • AND a can opener--especially beer cans. (See Urban Dictionary link)

    May 22, 2007

  • Oh... kids today! Don't even know what a church key is!

    May 22, 2007

  • u, what are we *ever* going to do with you?

    May 22, 2007

  • Nothing. Don't even try. It would be useless.

    Get it, useless? I kill me...

    May 22, 2007

  • Kill you? Wordies are dropping like flies stuck to a frog's tongue. It ain't pretty.

    May 22, 2007

  • Maybe I have a fundamental misunderstanding of how adhesion works, but I would expect those flies probably aren't dropping terribly far. Or was that the point? You sure have an interesting way of complimenting folks.

    May 22, 2007

  • For your edification: I was associating "dropping like flies" (connoting lots of people) with the literal death that a fly would meet on a frog's tongue which I associated with the phrase "you're killing me". So, a backwards way of saying I appreciated the joke. I guess that post needed a ;) for lack normal auditory cues.

    May 23, 2007

  • I feel edified. Thank you.

    I also fully understood what you were trying to say. I guess that post needed a }^P for lack of facial sarcasm vibes.

    May 23, 2007

  • an opener of spirits????

    October 12, 2007