keyman
Appearance
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Noun
[edit]keyman (plural keymen)
- (dated) A telegraph operator.
- 1932, Time (volume 19, part 2)
- Conscious of their importance, the 324 labor delegates marched bravely in and elected by acclaim as their president a onetime Ontario telegraph keyman, Senator Gideon Decker Robertson […]
- 1932, Time (volume 19, part 2)
- (India) A workman who checks a railway track for faults, and who carries a keying hammer.
- An employee of vital importance to a business.
- 1957, Pearce Shepherd, Andrew C. Webster, Selection of risks:
- A corporation may feel the need for life insurance on one of its keymen under a variety of circumstances.
- 2000, Harvey C. Krentzman, The essentials of business management for profit, page 123:
- As the keymen learn how to handle confidential company information, the owner-manager can disclose more to them. In most very small firms, the keymen will be "working" bosses.