Dictionary

keyboy en · NOUN

Etymology

From key + boy.

Meanings

1. A male hotel or motel employee in charge of room keys.
   • I drove downhill . . . toward the Mariner's Rest Motel. . . A keyboy. . . told me that Alex Kincaid had registered and gone out again. 1963, Ross Macdonald, The Chill, Vintage Crime/Black Lizard, page 48:
   • 20??, on-line comment, TravelBlog web-page Arrive between 06:00 p.m.and 09:00 p.m. clock clock [sic] get your room key from the KeyBoy the right from [sic] the hotel entrance!
   • We checked into adjoining rooms in a beach motel near the center of Santa Teresa. . . The keyboy opened the door between our two rooms. 1968, Ross Macdonald, The Instant Enemy:

Forms