key v.
(orig. US campus) to scratch an automobile with a key or other pointed object.
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Sl. U. | |
| Pulp Fiction [film script] 33: You know what some fucker did to it [i.e. a car] the other day? [...] Fuckin’ keyed it. | |
![[Ire]](/static/img/flags/ire.png "Ireland") | Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nightdress 36: If that jammer [...] hasn’t been keyed by the time I come back, there’s ten sheets in it for you. | |
![[Scot]](/static/img/flags/sco.png "Scotland") | (con. 1980s) Skagboys 335: Ah start tae idly key a smart estate motor. | |
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Kimberly’s Capital Punishment (2023) 12: I’ve often wondered why people like to [...] badmouth you, or key your car. | |
| Rough Trade [ebook] ‘He keyed Dana’s car, he smashed our window’. |
In derivatives
(Aus. drugs) under the influence of cocaine, thus aggressive.
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Sun. Mail (Brisbane) 13 Nov. 20/7: ‘Joe was buckled last night. He was all keyed up with angie and tried to take a twist out of a demon, he dug his heels in and it took three of them to lumber him.’ [...] Joe was under the influence of cocaine. He used insulting language to a detective, and resisted so violently when placed under arrest that it took the detective and two other officers to remove him to the watch house. |