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say it: keep
keep is a verb and noun meaning "cause to continue in a certain state, position, or activity; e.g., `keep clean'". It is pronounced /ˈkip/ — keep. It carries 25 recorded senses.
supply with room and board
“He is keeping three women in the guest cottage”
“keep boarders”
allow to remain in a place or position or maintain a property or feature
“We cannot continue several servants any longer”
“She retains a lawyer”
“The family's fortune waned and they could not keep their household staff”
“Our grant has run out and we cannot keep you on”
“We kept the work going as long as we could”
“She retained her composure”
“this garment retains its shape even after many washings”
behave as expected during of holidays or rites
“Keep the commandments”
“celebrate Christmas”
“Observe Yom Kippur”
have as a supply
“I always keep batteries in the freezer”
“keep food for a week in the pantry”
“She keeps a sixpack and a week's worth of supplies in the refrigerator”
the financial means whereby one lives
“each child was expected to pay for their keep”
“he applied to the state for support”
“he could no longer earn his own livelihood”
the main tower within the walls of a medieval castle or fortress
Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.
Definitions, synonyms and semantic relations for keep come from Princeton University’s WordNet. The pronunciation comes from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. Commonness is measured against a corpus of everyday English. Full sources and licences.