Dictionary

keyman en · NOUN

Etymology

From key + man.

Meanings

1. (dated) A telegraph operator.
   • 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)
2. (India) A workman who checks a railway track for faults, and who carries a keying hammer.
3. An employee of vital importance to a business.
   • A corporation may feel the need for life insurance on one of its keymen under a variety of circumstances. 1957, Pearce Shepherd, Andrew C. Webster, Selection of risks:
   • 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. 2000, Harvey C. Krentzman, The essentials of business management for profit, page 123:

Forms

Deriveds

keyman insurance