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keep definition

Overview

This page has 39 definitions of keep with English translations in 4 languages. Keep is a verb and noun. Examples of how to use keep in a sentence are shown. Also define these 0 related words and terms: .

See also: Keep and көөр

English keep definition

Etymology

From Middle English kepen (“to keep, guard, look after, watch”), from Old English cēpan (“to seize, hold, observe”), from Proto-Germanic *kōpijaną (compare West Frisian kypje (“to look”)), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵab-, *ǵāb- (“to look after”) (compare Lithuanian žẽbti (“to eat reluctantly”), Russian забо́та (zabóta, “care, worry”)).

Pronunciation

Verb

keep (third-person singular simple present keeps, present participle keeping, simple past and past participle kept)

  1. To continue in (a course or mode of action); not to intermit or fall from; to uphold or maintain.
    to keep silence;  to keep possession
  2. To remain faithful to a given promise or word.
      to keep one's word;  to keep one's promise
    Synonym: fullfill
  3. (transitive) To hold the status of something.
    1. To maintain possession of.
      I keep a small stock of painkillers for emergencies.
    2. (ditransitive) To maintain the condition of; to preserve in a certain state.
      I keep my specimens under glass to protect them.
      The abundance of squirrels kept the dogs running for hours.
      • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter X, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., OCLC 222716698:
        Mr. Cooke had had a sloop yacht built at Far Harbor, the completion of which had been delayed, and which was but just delivered. […] The Maria had a cabin, which was finished in hard wood and yellow plush, and accommodations for keeping things cold.
      • 1935, George Goodchild, chapter 1, in Death on the Centre Court:
        She mixed furniture with the same fatal profligacy as she mixed drinks, and this outrageous contact between things which were intended by Nature to be kept poles apart gave her an inexpressible thrill.
    3. (transitive) To record transactions, accounts, or events in.
      I used to keep a diary.
    4. (transitive) To enter (accounts, records, etc.) in a book.
    5. (archaic) To remain in, to be confined to.
      • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 12, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], OCLC 946730821:
        Metrocles somewhat indiscreetly, as he was disputing in his Schole, in presence of his auditory, let a fart, for shame whereof he afterwards kept his house and could not be drawen abroad […].
      • c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, scene ii]:
        The wrathful skies / Gallow the very wanderers of the dark / And make them keep their caves.
      • 1789, John Moore, Zeluco, Valancourt 2008, p. 71:
        The following day she was so ill that she kept her bed; the husband went not once to enquire for her, nor did he send any message: he also kept his apartment, and was heard walking backwards and forwards with a hurried pace the whole of that day.
      • 1913, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Poison Belt‎[1]:
        "As I sat alone at my breakfast--Mrs. Challenger is in the habit of keeping her room of a morning--it suddenly entered my head that it would be entertaining and instructive to see whether I could find any limits to this woman's inperturbability."
    6. To restrain.
      I keep my pet gerbil away from my brother.
      Don't let me keep you; I know you have things to be doing.
    7. (with from) To watch over, look after, guard, protect.
      May the Lord keep you from harm.
    8. To supply with necessities and financially support a person.
      He kept a mistress for over ten years.
    9. (of living things) To raise; to care for.
      He has been keeping orchids since retiring.
      • 1914, Robert Joos, Success with Hens, Forbes & company, p.217:
        Of course boys are boys and need watching, but there is little watching necessary when they keep chickens.
      • 2011 December 14, Steven Morris, “Devon woman jailed for 168 days for killing kitten in microwave”, in The Guardian:
        Jailing her on Wednesday, magistrate Liz Clyne told Robins: "You have shown little remorse either for the death of the kitten or the trauma to your former friend Sarah Knutton." She was also banned from keeping animals for 10 years.
    10. To maintain (an establishment or institution); to conduct; to manage.
      • c. 1601–1602, William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or VVhat You VVill”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, scene ii]:
        like a pedant that keeps a school
      • 1630, John Hayward, The Life, and Raigne of King Edward the Sixt, London: John Partridge, p. 114,[2]
        They were honourably accompanied and with great estate brought to London, where euery of them kept house by himselfe.
      • 1892, Walter Besant, chapter III, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], OCLC 16832619:
        At half-past nine on this Saturday evening, the parlour of the Salutation Inn, High Holborn, contained most of its customary visitors. […] In former days every tavern of repute kept such a room for its own select circle, a club, or society, of habitués, who met every evening, for a pipe and a cheerful glass.
    11. To have habitually in stock for sale.
  4. (intransitive) To hold or be held in a state.
    1. (obsolete) To reside for a time; to lodge; to dwell.
      She kept to her bed while the fever lasted.
    2. To continue.
      I keep taking the tablets, but to no avail.
      • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, OCLC 4293071:
        Not unnaturally, “Auntie” took this communication in bad part. […] Next day she […] tried to recover her ward by the hair of the head. Then, thwarted, the wretched creature went to the police for help; she was versed in the law, and had perhaps spared no pains to keep on good terms with the local constabulary.
      • 2013 June 28, Joris Luyendijk, “Our banks are out of control”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 3, page 21:
        Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic […]. Until 2008 there was denial over what finance had become. […] But the scandals kept coming, and so we entered stage three – what therapists call "bargaining". A broad section of the political class now recognises the need for change but remains unable to see the necessity of a fundamental overhaul. Instead it offers fixes and patches.
    3. To remain edible or otherwise usable.
      Potatoes can keep if they are in a root cellar.
      Latex paint won't keep indefinitely.
    4. (copulative) To remain in a state.
      The rabbit avoided detection by keeping still.
      Keep calm! There's no need to panic.
  5. (obsolete) To wait for, keep watch for.
    • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter X, in Le Morte Darthur, book VIII:
      And thenne whan the damoysel knewe certaynly that he was not syre launcelot / thenne she took her leue and departed from hym / And thenne syre Trystram rode pryuely vnto the posterne where kepte hym la beale Isoud / and there she made hym good chere and thanked god of his good spede
      (please add an English translation of this quote)
  6. (intransitive, cricket) To act as wicket-keeper.
    Godfrey Evans kept for England for many years.
  7. (intransitive, obsolete) To take care; to be solicitous; to watch.
    • c. 1530, William Tyndale, A Pathway into the holy Scripture in The Whole Workes of W. Tyndall, Iohn Frith, and Doct. Barnes, London: John Day, 1573, p. 384,[3]
      […] kepe that the lustes choke not the word of God that is sowen in vs,
  8. (intransitive, obsolete) To be in session; to take place.
    School keeps today.
  9. (transitive) To observe; to adhere to; to fulfill; not to swerve from or violate.
  10. (transitive, dated, by extension) To visit (a place) often; to frequent.
  11. (transitive, dated) To observe or celebrate (a holiday).
    The feast of St. Stephen is kept on December 26.
    • 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, H.L. Brækstad, transl., Folk and Fairy Tales, page 288:
      "Oh, we are from Osthalla," says one of them, "we are going to the Veien dairy to keep the wedding; the one who drives in front is the parson, next are the bride and bridegroom, and I am his father-in-law."

Synonyms

Derived terms

Pages starting with “keep”.

Terms derived from keep (verb)
 

Related terms

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Dictionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Noun

keep (countable and uncountable, plural keeps)

  1. (historical) The main tower of a castle or fortress, located within the castle walls.
    Synonym: donjon
  2. The food or money required to keep someone alive and healthy; one's support, maintenance.
    He works as a cobbler's apprentice for his keep.
  3. (obsolete) The act or office of keeping; custody; guard; care; heed; charge; notice.
    • 1470–1485 (date produced)​, Thomas Malory, “(please specify the chapter)”, in [Le Morte Darthur], book VII, [London: […] by William Caxton], published 31 July 1485, OCLC 71490786; republished as H[einrich] Oskar Sommer, editor, Le Morte Darthur […], London: David Nutt, […], 1889, OCLC 890162034:
      So Sir Gareth strayned hym so that his olde wounde braste ayen on bledynge; but he was hote and corragyous and toke no kepe, but with his grete forse he strake downe the knyght […].
    • 1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], “December. Aegloga Duodecima.”, in The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Hugh Singleton, […], OCLC 606515406; republished as The Shepheardes Calender […], London: […] Iohn Wolfe for Iohn Harrison the yonger, […], 1586, OCLC 837880809:
      Pan, thou god of shepherds all, / Which of our tender lambkins takest keep.
  4. The state of being kept; hence, the resulting condition; case.
    to be in good keep
  5. (obsolete) That which is kept in charge; a charge.
  6. (engineering) A cap for holding something, such as a journal box, in place.

Derived terms

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Dictionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

See also

Anagrams

Dutch keep definition

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch *kēp, *kip, from Old Dutch *kip (compare Old Dutch kip (“fetter”)), from Proto-West Germanic *kipp- (“to cut, split”), from Proto-Germanic *kipp- (“to split”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵey- (“to split, divide, geminate, sprout”). Cognate with Middle Low German kēp ("notch, incision"; > German Low German Keep (“score, notch, nick”)), Old English ċipp (“shaving, chip”).

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Noun

keep f (plural kepen, diminutive keepje n)

  1. notch, carven mark
    Synonyms: inkeping, kerf

Etymology 2
Een keep. — A brambling.

Unknown, but possibly related to German Kepf (“bird of prey”).

West Frisian keepfink (“bramblefinch”) is likely an adapted borrowing of the Dutch.

Pronunciation

Noun

keep m (plural kepen, diminutive keepje n)

  1. brambling, Fringilla montifringilla

Etymology 3

Shortening of keeper.

Pronunciation

Noun

keep m (plural keeps)

  1. (ball games, chiefly soccer, colloquial) goalkeeper

Estonian keep definition

Etymology

From German Cape.

Noun

keep (genitive keebi, partitive keepi)

  1. cloak, capote, gaberdine

Declension

Declension of keep (type riik)
singular plural
nominative keep keebid
genitive keebi keepide
partitive keepi keepe / keepisid
illative keepi / keebisse keepidesse / keebesse
inessive keebis keepides / keebes
elative keebist keepidest / keebest
allative keebile keepidele / keebele
adessive keebil keepidel / keebel
ablative keebilt keepidelt / keebelt
translative keebiks keepideks / keebeks
terminative keebini keepideni
essive keebina keepidena
abessive keebita keepideta
comitative keebiga keepidega

Middle English keep definition

Noun

keep

  1. notice; note; observance
    take keep — “take note”

Yola keep definition

Etymology

From Middle English kepen, from Old English cēpan, from Proto-West Germanic *kōpijaną.

Verb

keep

  1. to keep
    • 1867, “SONG”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 6:
      Shoo zent him anoor die a gozleen to keep;
      She sent him another day the goslings to keep;

References

  • Jacob Poole (1867), William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, page 108

Yucatec Maya keep definition

Pronunciation

Noun

keep (plural keepoʼob)

  1. (anatomy) penis

Synonyms

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