for keeps

1. 1.

   for the winner to keep all

   “they played for keeps”

Questions about for keeps

What does for keeps mean?

for keeps means "for the winner to keep all".

Is for keeps a common word?

for keeps is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.