Obs. A turnkey.
1607. Dekker, Knt.’s Conjur. (1842), 45. Heé’s as surly as those Key-turners are.
1618. Mynshul, Ess. Prison (1638), 29. The master of a prison is the primum mobile … and those key-turners and street-walkers are the petty and necessary slavish wheeles.
1786. J. Roberts, Life, 82–3. A piece of service I did him gratis in his absence, i. e. officiating as key-turner, and preventing two notorious robbers from breaking out.
