A skeleton key (also known as a passingkey) is either a key that has been altered in such a way as to bypass the wards placed inside a warded lock, or a card that contains information necessary to open locks for a certain area like a hotel etc., or an American term for a lever or "bit" type key. The term derives from the fact that the key has been reduced to its essential parts.
The term "skeleton key", in a more general sense, is also sometimes used in reference to key or similar object capable of opening any lock regardless of make or type. The term refers to the skeletal structure which can bypass all locks. The term is also often misapplied to refer to any antique key.
Read more about Skeleton Key: Warded Locks, Lever Lock Keys, Basketball Analogy, See Also
Famous quotes containing the words skeleton and/or key:
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—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“It so happened that, a few weeks later, “Old Ernie” [Ernest Hemingway] himself was using my room in New York as a hide-out from literary columnists and reporters during one of his rare stopover visits between Africa and Key West. On such all-too-rare occasions he lends an air of virility to my dainty apartment which I miss sorely after he has gone and all the furniture has been repaired.”
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