keep

SayKEEP/kip/UK/kiːp/

29 meanings of keep

1
hold in a stateverbtransitive
To stay, or make someone or something stay, in a particular state, place, or condition.
Keep the door shut.
The noise kept me awake all night.
UsageThe object comes first, then the state: keep the door shut, kept me awake, keep him waiting.
Similarleave, hold
Note
The phrase naming the state or place carries this meaning. In "keep my specimens under glass," drop "under glass" and the sense shifts, because "keep the specimens" on its own slides back to holding on to something.
2
verbintransitive
To continue doing something; used with a present participle.
Keep going, you're nearly there.
They kept walking until dark.
UsageFollowed by an -ing form: keep going (not ~~incorrect: keep to go~~). I keep forgetting often sounds like a complaint.
Similarcontinue
Oppositestop, quit, cease
Note
Followed by an -ing form, the verb covers two shades. One is steady persistence, as in keep going. The other is repetition, often with a note of frustration or futility: I keep taking the tablets, but to no avail, and the scandals kept coming. Context decides which is meant, and the second is common when someone is complaining or reporting failure.
3
hold on toverbtransitive
To maintain possession of something.
Can I keep the change?
She kept every letter he wrote.
UsageWhen giving someone something they already hold, say you can keep it. Keep the change means they need not return the remaining money.
Similarretain, save, hold
Oppositediscard, lose, return
Note
Here the meaning stays close to Old English cēpan, "to seize, hold": the thing is not handed back or given away. Telling someone to keep the shirt or keep the change gives up any claim to it.
Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
Keep derives from Old English cēpan, whose meanings included “to seize, hold.” en.wiktionary.org
4
verbtransitive
To hold someone or something back, off, or away from something; to prevent or protect.
Keep the dog off the sofa.
We put up a tall fence to keep the deer out of the vegetable garden.
UsageWith off, out, away or from: keep the dog off the sofa, keep the deer out.
Similarhold
5
verbtransitive
To continue in a course or mode of action; to uphold or maintain.
Drummers keep time for the band.
He kept pace with the leaders to the last lap.
UsageIn set phrases: keep time, keep pace with, keep up.
Similarmaintain, hold, sustain
6
not tellverbtransitive
To refrain from telling a secret.
Can you keep a secret?
He kept the news to himself for a week.
UsageMostly keep a secret or keep something to yourself.
Similarguard, conceal
Oppositereveal, divulge, disclose, betray
7
follow (rules)verbtransitive
To observe or carry out something such as a promise, law, custom, or holiday, without breaking or neglecting it.
Monks keep a rule of silence.
She kept the old customs all her life.
UsageCommon in keep a promise, keep your word and keep the Sabbath.
Similarobserve, follow, honor, obey, maintain
Oppositebreak, neglect, ignore
8
verbtransitive
To record transactions, accounts, or events in a book such as a diary or log.
Sailors keep a log of every watch.
She kept careful accounts of the household.
UsageMostly keep a diary, keep a record of, keep accounts.
Similarmaintain
9
raise (animals)verbtransitive
To raise and look after animals or plants, for example as a hobby or for food.
We keep two goats for milk.
She kept orchids in the spare room.
UsageCommon in keep chickens, keep bees, and keep livestock.
Similarraise, rear, grow, breed, tend
10
verbSingaporeWalestransitive
To return something to its place or store it away.
Go and keep your toys in the box before dinner.
He kept the dishes in the cupboard after dinner.
UsageOther English speakers may hear keep here as hold on to; put away is clear everywhere.
Similarstore, stow
Note
A Singapore English use in which the verb means to tidy something into its place. "Help me keep all these books" asks for them to be put away, not held on to. Linguists list it beside send, meaning "give a lift," as a local shift in meaning.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
Linguists list Singapore English keep meaning “put away” beside send meaning “give a lift” as examples of semantic shift. en.wiktionary.org

Less common meanings

11
verbintransitive
To stay fit to eat, or otherwise in usable condition, without spoiling.
Fresh fish will not keep overnight without ice.
Honey keeps for years.
UsageOften negative or followed by a duration: fish won't keep, honey keeps for years.
Similarlast
Oppositespoil, rot, perish
Note
Here the thing does the keeping itself, with no one holding it: potatoes keep, paint keeps, ale keeps.
12
living costsnoununcountable
The food or money a person needs to stay alive and healthy; their support and maintenance.
Her keep cost the family more than her wages brought in.
Lodgers paid for their keep by the week.
UsageMostly earn your keep or pay for your keep.
Similarboard, maintenance, support, subsistence
Note
A noun cut from the verb, naming what it costs to feed and house someone.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
The noun derives from the verb. en.wiktionary.org
13
have for saleverbtransitive
To stock particular goods regularly so that they are available for sale.
Do you keep camping stoves?
The chemist kept everything a village could need.
UsageDo you keep batteries? asks whether a shop sells them.
Similarstock, carry, sell
14
run (business)verbtransitive
To maintain, conduct, or manage an establishment or institution.
Who will keep the inn when he retires?
Her aunt kept a boarding house by the sea.
UsageWith a shop or house: keep a shop, keep an inn, keep house.
Similarrun, manage, operate
15
support (person)verbtransitive
To supply a person with necessities and support them financially.
He could not keep a wife on that wage.
On his small wage, he could barely keep himself, let alone a wife and children.
UsageOften keep a family or keep yourself on a wage.
Similarsupport, maintain
16
castle towernounhistoricalcountable
In a castle or fortress, the principal tower, which stands within the surrounding walls.
From the keep you could see the whole valley.
Later castles had no keeps at all.
Similardonjon
Note
A castle word: the keep is the stronghold inside the walls, the part where the castle is held and guarded. Donjon is its close synonym.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
The keep is the castle's inner stronghold. en.wiktionary.org
Donjon is a synonym of keep. en.wiktionary.org
17
conditionnoununcountable
The state of being kept, or the resulting condition.
Similarcondition, repair, order, shape
18
verbarchaictransitive
To be a regular visitor at a place; frequent.
Similarfrequent, haunt
Oppositeavoid, shun
Note
An old use meaning to frequent or haunt a place. In Fletcher's play first printed about 1609 to 1610, fairies, fauns and satyrs keep a stretch of hallowed ground. The use now sounds dated and literary. In ordinary prose, frequent or haunt is the clearer choice, and this sense is best saved for deliberately old-fashioned writing.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
The Faithful Shepherdess first appeared in an undated edition, probably in 1609–10. About 1608 refers to its composition or initial performance, not its first publication. gutenberg.org
John Fletcher wrote the play. gutenberg.org
The play describes fairies, fauns and satyrs keeping hallowed ground; Alexis speaks the passage. gutenberg.org
19
cricket positionverbintransitive
In cricket, to act as wicketkeeper.
Few players both keep and open the batting.
She kept in every match of the series.
UsageAlso used in the set phrase keep wicket.
Note
Cricket's own use of the verb: a player keeps, keeps for England, or bats and keeps. A sentence like "he kept well all season" is therefore about the job behind the stumps, not about holding on to anything.
20
noun
In engineering, a cap for holding something, such as a journal box, in place.
21
verbarchaic
To stay within a place without leaving it, as when an illness confines you there.
The wrathful skies / Gallow the very wanderers of the dark / And make them keep their caves.
c. 1603, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”
22
verbobsolete
To live or stay somewhere for a period of time.
23
verbobsoleteUK
At Cambridge University, to live in college accommodation.
24
verbobsolete
To watch and wait for someone or something to come.
25
verbobsolete
To pay careful attention or be concerned about something.
26
verbobsolete
To be held or carry on business, said of a school, court or meeting.
27
nounobsolete
Responsibility for looking after or guarding something or someone.
Pan, thou god of shepherds all, / Which of our tender lambkins takest keep.
1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], “December. Ægloga Duodecima.”
28
nounobsolete
A person or thing placed in someone's care.
Often he used of his keep / A sacrifice to bring.
1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], “Iuly. Ægloga Septima.”
29
nounobsolete
A woman who has an ongoing sexual relationship with a man who is married to someone else and supports her.

Practice

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Origins

Meanings 1–11, 13–15, 18–19

From Middle English kepen ("to keep, guard, look after"), from Old English cēpan ("to seize, hold, observe"), going back through Proto-Germanic *kōpijaną ("to look, heed, watch") to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to look after."

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

Keep derives from Middle English kepen, meaning to keep, guard, or look after. en.wiktionary.org
Middle English kepen derives from Old English cēpan, meaning to seize, hold, or observe. en.wiktionary.org
Old English cēpan descends from Proto-Germanic *kōpijaną. en.wiktionary.org
Proto-Germanic *kōpijaną had meanings corresponding to looking, heeding, and watching. en.wiktionary.org
The reconstructed Proto-Germanic verb derives from a Proto-Indo-European root meaning to look after. en.wiktionary.org

Meanings 12, 16–17

From Middle English kepe or kep, formed from the verb (see above). The castle sense may instead go back to Middle English kype, "basket," a name given to a barrel-shaped tower at Guînes in the 1370s and later linked to the verb.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

The noun derives from Middle English kepe or kep, formed from the verb. en.wiktionary.org
The castle sense may derive from Middle English kype, meaning basket. en.wikipedia.org
The name was applied to a barrel-shaped fortification at Guînes in the 1370s. en.wikipedia.org
The castle term was later associated with the verb keep. en.wikipedia.org