turnkey
turnkey Lexical Profile
turnkey Game Scores & Validity
• adjective
Of a product, service, or facility, supplied, installed, or purchased in a complete condition that is ready for immediate use or operation.
"The firm offers a turnkey software solution that allows small businesses to manage inventory without hiring IT specialists."
• noun
A person in charge of the keys of a prison; a jailer or warder (now chiefly historical).
"In the nineteenth-century novel, the corrupt turnkey was bribed to leave the cell door unlocked at midnight."
A heavy metallic instrument with a rotating claw formerly used by dentists and surgeons for extracting teeth.
"Before modern forceps were standardized, dental practitioners often relied on a metal turnkey to lever out decayed molars."
Word Origin & Etymology
Coined in the mid-17th century from the literal combination of 'turn' and 'key', originally referring to a jailer who held the keys to prison cells. The modern commercial adjective sense emerged in the mid-20th century, evoking a home or system so fully prepared that the buyer need only turn the key to begin using it.