housekeeper
Americannoun
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a person, often hired, who does or directs the domestic work and planning necessary for a home, as cleaning or buying food.
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an employee of a hotel, hospital, etc., who supervises the cleaning staff.
noun
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a person, esp a woman, employed to run a household
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a person who is not an efficient and thrifty domestic manager
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a person who is an efficient and thrifty domestic manager
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of housekeeper
First recorded in 1375–1425, housekeeper is from the late Middle English word houskeper. See house, keeper
Explanation
A housekeeper is someone whose job involves cleaning other people's houses. In some cases, a housekeeper also cooks meals for her employers. It was once common in many countries for wealthy families to employ a live-in housekeeper, who may have been called a maid or a servant. Today it's less typical, although some families hire workers to clean occasionally — these people might come once a week and are usually called <>housecleaners rather than housekeepers. The word uses the sense of keep that means "maintain or preserve order."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Last month, I visited a Hollywood neighborhood where one frustrated resident hired her housekeeper to document chronic problems related to homelessness, illegal dumping and criminal activity.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 6, 2026
Simmons’ connection to the property received new attention earlier this month when broadcast journalist Diane Sawyer visited the home to spend time with the fitness guru’s brother, Lenny Simmons, and his housekeeper, Teresa Reveles.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 3, 2026
Sorry to the housekeeper in El Paso and that young man in Arizona; she didn’t mean to scare you.
From Salon • Jun. 1, 2026
Baker, a Dartmouth College grad and former ski bum who once worked as a housekeeper at a mountain lodge in Utah, started working at Fidelity in 1999 as an analyst.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 22, 2026
As soon as we walked inside, her housekeeper, Hélène, started fluttering around us.
From "The Science of Breakable Things" by Tae Keller
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
