key of the street
English
editNoun
edit- (humorous) An imaginary item said to be possessed by anyone who is locked outdoors.
- 1907, The Dublin Review, volume 141, page 290:
- And all his literary life Dickens had the vision of the boy who was given the "key of the street" when other boys are at school.
References
edit- John Camden Hotten (1873) The Slang Dictionary