Keep, n. 1. The
act or office of keeping; custody; guard; care; heed; charge.
Chaucer.
Pan, thou god of shepherds all,
Which of our tender lambkins takest keep.
Spenser.
2. The state of being kept; hence, the
resulting condition; case; as, to be in good keep.
3. The means or provisions by which one is
kept; maintenance; support; as, the keep of a horse.
Grass equal to the keep of seven
cows.
Carlyle.
I performed some services to the college in return for
my keep.
T. Hughes.
4. That which keeps or protects; a
stronghold; a fortress; a castle; specifically, the strongest and
securest part of a castle, often used as a place of residence by the
lord of the castle, especially during a siege; the donjon. See
Illust. of Castle.
The prison strong,
Within whose keep the captive knights were laid.
Dryden.
The lower chambers of those gloomy
keeps.
Hallam.
I think . . . the keep, or principal part of a
castle, was so called because the lord and his domestic circle
kept, abode, or lived there.
M. A.
Lower.
5. That which is kept in charge; a
charge. [Obs.]
Often he used of his keep
A sacrifice to bring.
Spenser.
6. (Mach.) A cap for retaining
anything, as a journal box, in place.
To take keep, to take care; to heed.
[Obs.] Chaucer.
Keep (?), v. i. 1.
To remain in any position or state; to continue; to abide; to
stay; as, to keep at a distance; to keep aloft; to
keep near; to keep in the house; to keep before
or behind; to keep in favor; to keep out of company, or
out reach.
2. To last; to endure; to remain
unimpaired.
If the malt be not thoroughly dried, the ale it makes
will not keep.
Mortimer.
3. To reside for a time; to lodge; to
dwell. [Now disused except locally or colloquially.]
Knock at his study, where, they say, he
keeps.
Shak.
4. To take care; to be solicitous; to
watch. [Obs.]
Keep that the lusts choke not the word of God
that is in us.
Tyndale.
5. To be in session; as, school keeps
to-day. [Colloq.]
To keep from, to abstain or refrain
from. -- To keep in with, to keep on good
terms with; as, to keep in with an opponent. --
To keep on, to go forward; to proceed; to
continue to advance. -- To keep to, to
adhere strictly to; not to neglect or deviate from; as, to keep
to old customs; to keep to a rule; to keep to one's
word or promise. -- To keep up, to remain
unsubdued; also, not to be confined to one's bed.
Keep (kēp), v. t. [imp. &
p. p. Kept (kĕpt); p. pr. & vb.
n. Keeping.] [OE. kēpen, AS.
cēpan to keep, regard, desire, await, take, betake; cf.
AS. copenere lover, OE. copnien to desire.]
1. To care; to desire. [Obs.]
I kepe not of armes for to yelp
[boast].
Chaucer.
2. To hold; to restrain from departure or
removal; not to let go of; to retain in one's power or possession;
not to lose; to retain; to detain.
If we lose the field,
We can not keep the town.
Shak.
That I may know what keeps me here with
you.
Dryden.
If we would weigh and keep in our minds what we
are considering, that would instruct us.
Locke.
3. To cause to remain in a given situation or
condition; to maintain unchanged; to hold or preserve in any state or
tenor.
His loyalty he kept, his love, his
zeal.
Milton.
Keep a stiff rein, and move but gently
on.
Addison.
☞ In this sense it is often used with prepositions and
adverbs, as to keep away, to keep down, to keep
from, to keep in, out, or off, etc. "To
keep off impertinence and solicitation from his superior."
Addison.
4. To have in custody; to have in some place
for preservation; to take charge of.
The crown of Stephanus, first king of Hungary, was
always kept in the castle of Vicegrade.
Knolles.
5. To preserve from danger, harm, or loss; to
guard.
Behold, I am with thee, and will keep
thee.
Gen. xxviii. 15.
6. To preserve from discovery or publicity;
not to communicate, reveal, or betray, as a secret.
Great are thy virtues . . . though kept from
man.
Milton.
7. To attend upon; to have the care of; to
tend.
And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the
garden of Eden, to dress it and to keep it.
Gen. ii. 15.
In her girlish age, she kept sheep on the
moor.
Carew.
8. To record transactions, accounts, or
events in; as, to keep books, a journal, etc.; also, to enter
(as accounts, records, etc. ) in a book.
9. To maintain, as an establishment,
institution, or the like; to conduct; to manage; as, to keep
store.
Like a pedant that keeps a school.
Shak.
Every one of them kept house by
himself.
Hayward.
10. To supply with necessaries of life; to
entertain; as, to keep boarders.
11. To have in one's service; to have and
maintain, as an assistant, a servant, a mistress, a horse,
etc.
I keep but three men and a boy.
Shak.
12. To have habitually in stock for
sale.
13. To continue in, as a course or mode of
action; not to intermit or fall from; to hold to; to maintain; as, to
keep silence; to keep one's word; to keep
possession.
Both day and night did we keep
company.
Shak.
Within this portal as I kept my
watch.
Smollett.
14. To observe; to adhere to; to fulfill; not
to swerve from or violate; to practice or perform, as duty; not to
neglect; to be faithful to.
I have kept the faith.
2 Tim.
iv. 7.
Him whom to love is to obey, and keep
His great command.
Milton.
15. To confine one's self to; not to quit; to
remain in; as, to keep one's house, room, bed, etc.; hence, to
haunt; to frequent. Shak.
'Tis hallowed ground;
Fairies, and fawns, and satyrs do it keep.
J.
Fletcher.
16. To observe duly, as a festival, etc.; to
celebrate; to solemnize; as, to keep a feast.
I went with them to the house of God . . . with a
multitude that kept holyday.
Ps. xlii.
4.
To keep at arm's length. See under
Arm, n. -- To keep
back. (a) To reserve; to withhold.
"I will keep nothing back from you." Jer. xlii.
4. (b) To restrain; to hold back.
"Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins." Ps.
xix. 13. -- To keep company with.
(a) To frequent the society of; to associate
with; as, let youth keep company with the wise and good.
(b) To accompany; to go with; as, to keep
company with one on a voyage; also, to pay court to, or accept
attentions from, with a view to marriage. [Colloq.] --
To keep counsel. See under Counsel,
n. -- To keep down.
(a) To hold in subjection; to restrain; to
hinder. (b) (Fine Arts) To subdue in
tint or tone, as a portion of a picture, so that the spectator's
attention may not be diverted from the more important parts of the
work. -- To keep good (or
bad) hours, to be customarily
early (or late) in returning home or in retiring to rest. --
To keep house. (a) To occupy a
separate house or establishment, as with one's family, as
distinguished from boarding; to manage domestic affairs.
(b) (Eng. Bankrupt Law) To seclude one's
self in one's house in order to evade the demands of creditors.
-- To keep one's hand in, to keep in
practice. -- To keep open house, to be
hospitable. -- To keep the peace (Law),
to avoid or to prevent a breach of the peace. -- To
keep school, to govern, manage and instruct or teach a
school, as a preceptor. -- To keep a stiff upper
lip, to keep up one's courage. [Slang] --
To keep term. (a) (Eng.
Universities) To reside during a term.
(b) (Inns of Court) To eat a sufficient
number of dinners in hall to make the term count for the purpose of
being called to the bar. [Eng.] Mozley & W. -- To
keep touch. See under Touch,
n. -- To keep under, to
hold in subjection; hence, to oppress. -- To keep
up. (a) To maintain; to prevent from
falling or diminution; as, to keep up the price of goods; to
keep up one's credit. (b) To
maintain; to continue; to prevent from ceasing. "In joy, that
which keeps up the action is the desire to continue it."
Locke.
Syn. -- To retain; detain; reserve; preserve; hold;
restrain; maintain; sustain; support; withhold. -- To Keep.
Retain, Preserve. Keep is the generic term, and
is often used where retain or preserve would too much
restrict the meaning; as, to keep silence, etc. Retain
denotes that we keep or hold things, as against
influences which might deprive us of them, or reasons which might
lead us to give them up; as, to retain vivacity in old age; to
retain counsel in a lawsuit; to retain one's servant
after a reverse of fortune. Preserve denotes that we keep a
thing against agencies which might lead to its being destroyed or
broken in upon; as, to preserve one's health; to
preserve appearances.