keep

English Online Dictionary. What means keep‎? What does keep mean?

English

Alternative forms

• keepe (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• enPR: kēp, IPA^(key): /kiːp/
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): [kiːp], [kʰɪjp]
  • (Standard Southern British, Southern US) IPA^(key): [kʰɪjp]
  • (US) IPA^(key): [k̟çi(ː)p]
  • (Canada, Scotland) IPA^(key): [k(ʰ)i(ː)p]
• Rhymes: -iːp

Etymology 1

From Middle English kepen (“to keep, guard, look after, watch”), from Old English cēpan (“to seize, hold, observe”), from Proto-West Germanic *kōpijan, from Proto-Germanic *kōpijaną (“to look, heed, watch, observe”) (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”)).

Verb

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

1. (transitive) To continue in (a course or mode of action); to not intermit or fall from; to uphold or maintain.

2. (transitive) To remain faithful to a given promise or word.

   Synonym: fullfill
3. (transitive) To hold the status of something.
   1. To maintain possession of.

   2. (ditransitive) To maintain the condition of; to preserve in a certain state.
   3. (transitive) To record transactions, accounts, or events in.

   4. (transitive) To enter (accounts, records, etc.) in a book.
   5. (archaic) To remain in; to be confined to.
   6. To restrain.

   7. (with from) To watch over, look after, guard, protect.
   8. To supply with necessities and financially support (a person).

   9. (of living things) To raise; to care for.
   10. To refrain from freely disclosing (a secret).
   11. To maintain (an establishment or institution); to conduct; to manage.
   12. 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.
   2. To continue.
   3. To remain edible or otherwise usable.
   4. (copulative) To remain in a state.

5. (obsolete) To wait for, keep watch for.
6. (intransitive, cricket) To act as wicket-keeper.

7. (intransitive, obsolete) To take care; to be solicitous; to watch.
8. (intransitive, obsolete) To be in session; to take place.

9. (transitive) To observe; to adhere to; to fulfill; to not 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).
12. (transitive, Singapore) To put away, to put (something) back.

Synonyms

• (maintain possession of): retain
• (maintain the condition of): preserve, protect
• (to reside for a time): See also Thesaurus:sojourn

Derived terms

English terms starting with “keep”

Related terms

• for keeps

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English kepe, kep, from the verb (see above).

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.

3. The state of being kept; hence, the resulting condition; case.

4. (engineering) A cap for holding something, such as a journal box, in place.
5. (obsolete) The act or office of keeping; custody; guard; care; heed; charge; notice.
6. (obsolete) That which is kept in charge; a charge.
7. (euphemistic, obsolete) A mistress (the other woman in an extramarital relationship, generally including sexual relations).

Derived terms

• earn one's keep

Translations

See also

• donjon

Anagrams

• Ekpe, PEEK, Peek, Peke, kepe, peek, peke

Chinese

Etymology

From English keep.

Pronunciation

Verb

keep (Hong Kong Cantonese)

1. to keep; to maintain possession of
2. to keep; to maintain condition of; to preserve
3. (sports) to mark or guard a player from the opposing team

Derived terms

Related terms

• keeper

References

• English Loanwords in Hong Kong Cantonese

Dutch

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

• kip

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /keːp/
• Hyphenation: keep
• Rhymes: -eːp
• Homophone: cape

Noun

keep f (plural kepen, diminutive keepje n)

1. notch, carven mark

   Synonyms: inkeping, kerf

Descendants

• Afrikaans: keep

Etymology 2

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

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /keːp/
• Hyphenation: keep
• Rhymes: -eːp
• Homophone: cape

Noun

keep m (plural kepen, diminutive keepje n)

1. the brambling, Fringilla montifringilla

Further reading

• keep (vogel) on the Dutch Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^nl

Etymology 3

Clipping of keeper.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kip/
• Hyphenation: keep
• Rhymes: -ip
• Homophone: kiep

Noun

keep m (plural keeps)

1. (ball games, chiefly soccer, colloquial) Synonym of keeper

Estonian

Etymology

From German Cape.

Noun

keep (genitive keebi, partitive keepi)

1. cloak, capote, gaberdine

Declension

Middle English

Alternative forms

• kep, kepe, koep

Etymology

From the verb kepen (“to keep, to care about”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /keːp/

Noun

keep (uncountable)

1. heed, notice, note, observance

   taken keep ― to take note

   • c. 1368, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Book of the Duchess, as recorded c. 1440–1450 in Bodleian Library MS. Fairfax 16, folio 130r:
2. care, concern
3. service, attendance, care
4. obedience, deference
5. caution, precaution, vigilance

Descendants

• English: keep

References

• “kẹ̄p, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2023-11-10.

Yola

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kiːp/

Verb

keep

1. to keep

References

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) 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, published 1867, page 108

Yucatec Maya

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /keːp˩/

Noun

keep (plural keepoʼob)

1. (anatomy) penis

Synonyms

• toon