English
turnkey
Pronunciation
  • (America) enPR: tûrn'-kē
Adjective

turnkey

  1. ready to use without further assembly or test; supplied in a state that is ready to turn on and operate (typically refers to an assembly that is outsourced for manufacture)
    They wanted a turnkey solution for the entire system, but we could only provide the enclosure.
    • 1980, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, April 1980, Kathleen Bailey, When and why weapons ↗; page 42
      Third World countries no longer want to purchase nuclear projects on a turn-key basis; they want to receive advanced technical training as well.
Translations Noun

turnkey (plural turnkeys)

  1. (now archaic) A warder or jailer/gaoler; keeper of the keys in a prison.
    • 1836, Charles Dickens, [https://web.archive.org/web/20140811201712/http://etext.virginia.edu/etcbin/ot2www-pubeng?specfile=%2Ftexts%2Fenglish%2Fmodeng%2Fpublicsearch%2Fmodengpub.o2w The Pickwick papers]
      ...they passed through an open door into a lobby, from which a heavy gate, opposite to that by which they had entered, and which was guarded by a stout turnkey with the key in his hand, led at once into the interior of the prison.
    • 1883, Thomas Hardy, The Three Strangers ↗
      'Certainly not,' said the turnkey; and the first corroborated his statement.
Translations Verb

turnkey (turnkeys, present participle turnkeying; past and past participle turnkeyed)

  1. to supply a turnkey product; to supply something fully assembled and ready to use
    We can sell you all the parts, or we can turnkey the entire unit.
Related terms
  • EPC: "engineering, procurement and construction"


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