keep

English

English Wikipedia has articles on:

Keep

Pronunciation

(UK) enPR: kēp, IPA: /kʰiːp/, X-SAMPA: /k_hi:p/
(US) enPR: kēp, IPA: /kʰip/, X-SAMPA: /k_hip/
Audio (US)
(file)
Rhymes: -iːp

Etymology

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’), variant of *kapōną (compare Old English capian ‘to look’, Dutch kapen ‘to seize, snatch’, German kapfen ‘to gape’, Danish kope (“to gawk, stare”)), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵab-, *ǵāb- (“to look after”) (compare Lithuanian žẽbti ‘to eat reluctantly’, Russian забота (zabota) ‘care, worry’).

Verb

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

(transitive) To maintain possession of.
I keep a small stock of painkillers for emergencies.
(transitive) To maintain the condition of.
I keep my specimens under glass to protect them.

The abundance of squirrels kept the dogs running for hours.
(transitive, archaic) To remain in, to be confined to.
- 1605, William Shakespeare, King Lear, III.ii,
  The wrathful skies / Gallow the very wanderers of the dark / And make them keep their caves.
(obsolete) To wait for, keep watch for.
- 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book VIII:
  And than Sir Trystrames rode prevayly unto the posterne where kepte hym La Beale Isode, and there she made hym grete chere, and thanked God of his good spede.
(transitive) To restrain.
I keep my brother out of trouble by keeping him away from his friends and hard at work.
(transitive, with from) To protect, guard.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.viii:
  cursse on thy cruell hond, / That twise hath sped; yet shall it not thee keepe / From the third brunt of this my fatall brond [...].
May the Lord keep you from harm.
(intransitive) To continue.
I keep taking the tablets, but to no avail.
(intransitive) To remain edible or otherwise usable.
Potatoes can keep if they are in a root cellar.

Latex paint won't keep indefinitely.
(intransitive, copulative) To remain in a state.
The rabbit avoided detection by keeping still.
(intransitive, cricket) To act as wicket-keeper.
Godfrey Evans kept for England for many years.
(transitive, of living things) To raise; to care for.
He has been keeping orchids since retiring.
- 1914, Robert Joos, Success with Hens, Forbes & company, page 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”, 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.
(transitive) To supply with necessities and financially support a person.

Synonyms

(maintain possession of): retain
(maintain the condition of): preserve, protect

Derived terms

Look at pages starting with keep.

Related terms

for keeps

Translations

to maintain possession of

Arabic: احتفظ (ar) (iHtafaZa)
Armenian: պահել (hy) (pahel)
Chinese:
Cantonese: 保持 (bou2 ci4)

Mandarin: 保持 (bǎochí); 保存, bǎocún
Czech: nechat si (cs)
Dalmatian: tenar
Dutch: houden (nl)
Finnish: pitää (fi)
French: garder (fr)
Friulian: tignî
Georgian: please add this translation if you can
German: behalten (de), aufheben (de)
Greek: κρατώ (el) (krató)
Hungarian: tart (hu)
Indonesian: simpan (id)
Irish: coimeád (ga), coinnigh (ga)
Italian: tenere (it)
Japanese: 保持する (ja) (hoji suru), 確保する (ja) (kakuho suru)
Jèrriais: garder

Kyrgyz: сактоо (ky) (saktoo)
Latin: reservare (la), retinere (la), teneo (la)
Macedonian: чува (mk) (čúva)
Malayalam: സൂക്ഷിക്കുക (ml) (sookshikkuka), സംരക്ഷിക്കുക (ml) (samrakshikkuka)
Norwegian: beholde (no)
Portuguese: manter (pt), guardar (pt)
Romanian: păstra (ro), ține (ro)
Russian: хранить (ru) (xranít’)
Scottish Gaelic: cùm (gd), glèidh (gd)
Spanish: guardar (es), quedarse algo (es)
Swedish: hålla (sv), behålla (sv)
Thai: เก็บ (th) (gèp)
Turkish: tutmak (tr), saklamak (tr)
Vietnamese: giữ (vi)
Volapük: kipön (vo)
Walloon: wårder (wa)
Welsh: cadw (cy)
West Frisian: hâlde (fy)

to maintain the condition of; to preserve

Armenian: պահպանել (hy) (pahpanel), պահել (hy) (pahel)
Asturian: caltener (ast)
Chinese:
Cantonese: 維持 (wai4 ci4)

Mandarin: 维持 (wéi chí)
Dutch: houden (nl)
Finnish: pitää (fi), säilyttää (fi)
French: conserver (fr), garder (fr)
German: bewahren (de), erhalten (de)
Hungarian: tart (hu)
Irish: coinnigh (ga)
Italian: tenere (it)

Japanese: 維持する (ja) (iji suru), 保つ (ja) (tamotsu)
Jèrriais: garder
Kyrgyz: кармоо (ky) (karmo:)
Macedonian: чува (mk) (čúva)
Norwegian: bevare (no)
Russian: хранить (ru) (xranít’)
Spanish: guardar (es), mantener (es)
Swedish: bevara (sv)
Thai: เก็บ (th) (gèp), เอาไว้ (th) (ao wái)
Turkish: saklamak (tr)
Volapük: kipedön (vo)

to remain in, to be confined to

Dutch: behouden (nl)
Finnish: pysyä (fi)
Irish: comhlíon (ga)
Italian: rimanere (it), restare (it)

Japanese: 留まる (ja) (todomaru)
Spanish: permanecer (es)
Turkish: durmak (tr)

to restrain

Armenian: պահել (hy) (pahel)
German: heraushalten (de), fernhalten (de)
Italian: trattenere (it)

Japanese: 抑止する (ja) (yokushi suru)
Macedonian: држи (mk) (d'rži)
Turkish: tutmak (tr)

to continue

Armenian: շարունակել (hy) (šarunakel)
Chinese:
Cantonese: 繼續 (gai3 zuk6)

Mandarin: 继续 (jì xù)
Czech: pokračovat (cs)
Finnish: jatkaa (fi), tehdä jotakin jatkuvasti (fi)
French: continuer (à / de) (fr)
German: weiterhin (de), weiter [tun] (de)
Italian: continuare (it), seguitare (it)

Japanese: 継続する (ja) (keizoku suru), 続行する (ja) (zokkō suru)
Kyrgyz: улантуу (ky) (ulantu:)
Norwegian: fortsette (no)
Russian: продолжать (ru) (prodolžát’), продолжить (ru) (prodólžit’)
Spanish: seguir (es), continuar (es)
Swedish: fortsätta (sv)
Thai: คอย (th) (koi), หมั่น (th) (màn)
Turkish: devam etmek (tr)
West Frisian: fierdergean (fy)

to act as wicket-keeper

of livestock: to raise; to care for

German: halten (de)
Macedonian: чува (mk) (čúva)

Spanish: criar (es)
Turkish: bakmak (tr)

supply with necessities and financially support a person

German: aushalten (de)
Hungarian: eltart (hu), kitart (hu)

Irish: coinnigh (ga)
Spanish: mantener (es)

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 Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

Estonian: hoidma (et) (1), säilitama (et) (2)
Ido: retenar (io)
Indonesian: jaga (id), menjaga (id), menjagai (id)
Japanese: 確保する (ja) (かくほする, kakuho suru)
Persian: نگه داشتن (fa) (negah dâštan)

Portuguese: manter (pt)
Romanian: ține (ro)
Slovene: obdržati (sl) (1), vzdrževati (sl) (2)
Telugu: ఉంచు (te) (uMchu), పెట్టు (te) (peTTu)

Noun

Wikipedia has an article on:

Keep

Wikipedia keep (plural keeps)

(obsolete) Care, notice
- 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book VII:
  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 [...].
(historical) The main tower of a castle or fortress, located within the castle walls.
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.