What does keys to the city mean

The long answer: Once upon a time, being presented with the key to the city served a real function. In ancient times, when it was common for European towns to be ringed by walls, visiting dignitaries were presented with a key to the city gate as a gesture of trust and kindness; these particular visitors could come and go as they pleased with the assumption that they wouldn't be returning with a militia to lay siege to the city. BY Stacy Conradt.

An incomplete list of people who have received keys to cities: Saddam Hussein received the key to Detroit in after making a sizable donation to a church there. It's a term used for bolt cutters. Homeless people, or those individuals who stay in the streets late at night refer to the phrase of having the proper tool used for breaking into things such as metal fences, gates with wires and locked chains that bolt cutters are capable of cutting through.

Hey bro, I saw two of these really nice mountain bikes locked up over on 16th St. If you can burrow your uncle's Keys to the city , we can swing by there later on tonight and snatch us up some new wheels. During the evening, when I get tired, and I'm done pan handling for change, I go over to this abandoned building with a gate surrounding it to get some rest.

I used keys to the city to cut through the gate as an entrance to sneak in. It started in the Middle Ages, and it gave an important person the ability to pass in and out of the city walls at will. It was papers or documents, not an actual key. Now it's usually a large, symbolic key. It's a symbolic gift from the city's administration. An ornamental key is presented to esteemed visitors, residents, or others the city wishes to honor.

Evoking medieval walled cities whose gates were guarded during the day and locked at night, the key symbolizes the freedom of the recipient to enter and leave the city at will as a trusted friend of city residents. Of course, the person receiving the key is always free to enter the city at will, but this is a ceremonial gesture of welcome and appreciation to someone. If you are given a key to the city it really means that you have been granted Freedom of the City status and if you take it literally it means that you "can go wherever you like and open any door.

Freedom of the city is an honour bestowed by some municipalities in Australia, Canada, Ireland, France, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and Zimbabwe to esteemed members of its community or to organisations that have given the community heroic service; the term applies to two separate honors, one civilian and one military. Key to the city is a similar award made in several other countries, and is more prevalent in the United States.

Freedom of the city is an ancient honour granted to martial organisations, allowing them the privilege to march into the city "with drums beating, colours flying, and bayonets fixed".