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The Collaborative International Dictionary
Cipher key

Cipher \Ci"pher\, n. [OF. cifre zero, F. Chiffre figure (cf. Sp.cifra, LL. cifra), fr. Ar. [,c]ifrun, [,c]afrun, empty, cipher, zero, fr. [,c]afira to be empty. Cf. Zero.]

  1. (Arith.) A character [0] which, standing by itself, expresses nothing, but when placed at the right hand of a whole number, increases its value tenfold.

  2. One who, or that which, has no weight or influence.

    Here he was a mere cipher.
    --W. Irving.

  3. A character in general, as a figure or letter. [Obs.]

    This wisdom began to be written in ciphers and characters and letters bearing the forms of creatures.
    --Sir W. Raleigh.

  4. A combination or interweaving of letters, as the initials of a name; a device; a monogram; as, a painter's cipher, an engraver's cipher, etc. The cut represents the initials N. W.

  5. A private alphabet, system of characters, or other mode of writing, contrived for the safe transmission of secrets; also, a writing in such characters.

    His father . . . engaged him when he was very young to write all his letters to England in cipher.
    --Bp. Burnet.

    Cipher key, a key to assist in reading writings in cipher.

Usage examples of "cipher key".

But it was not until cipher key after cipher key, and code after code, had been betrayed by needless mistakes or stupidities or outright rule violations that the magnitude of the problem was borne in upon them.

In this case, the cipher key for this day was a lengthy passage from Aristotle's discourse on Being qua Being, with seven words removed, and four grotesquely misspelled.

She began by summarizing the cipher key Renna had drawn upon the wall, how each cluster of dots probably represented an array of living figures on a Game of Life board.

The dispatch bore the electronic seal and personal cipher key of the First Lord, not the First Space Lord.