latch-key
(ˈlætʃkiː)
Orig., a key used to draw back the night-latch of a door. Now usu., the key of a spring door-lock. Freq. allusive and attrib., with reference to the use of a latch-key by a younger member of a household (esp. one who comes home from school when his parents are still at work) or a lodger.
| 1825 C. Mathews Memorandum-Bk. (ed. 2) 19 At last he recollected he had a latch key in his pocket. 1836 Dickens Pickw. (1837) xx. 199, I couldn't find the place where the latch-key went in. 1839 Dickens Nich. Nick. xvi, Here, at all hours of the night, may be heard the rattling of latch-keys in their respective keyholes. 1856 Mrs. Carlyle Lett. II. 270 He opened the door with his latch-key. 1950 T. S. Eliot Cocktail Party i. iii. 70 Lavinia lets herself in with a latch-key. |
| attrib. 1892 Zangwill Bow Mystery 37 The front door..is guarded by the latchkey lock and the big lock. 1902 Daily Chron. 22 Aug. 3/6 At the beginning of the latchkey life everything looks delightful. 1905 Ibid. 17 Nov. 1/7 The names of 2,596 workmen in Devonport, known as latch-key voters,..were restored to the occupiers' list. 1944 in Amer. Speech (1965) XL. 145 Latchkey children. 1945 Baker Austral. Lang. 158 The arrival of American servicemen in Australia produced..latch-key kids for children left at home on their own by mothers engaged in war industry. 1946 Life 8 Apr. 90/2 His was a latchkey existence. 1960 Guardian 23 Nov. 8/5 What happens to the ‘latch-key children’ in Germany? 1974 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 14 June 11/5 One in every four school children was a latch-key child. |
Also as
v., to open with a latch-key; to let oneself into (a house, etc.) by means of a latch-key.
| 1939 E. S. Gardner Case of Rolling Bones (1940) v. 60 Mason latch-keyed the office door to find Gertrude down on hands and knees scrubbing at the charred carpet. 1961 Wodehouse Ice in Bedroom xv. 119 As he latchkeyed himself into Peacehaven..there was a song on his lips. |