housekeep
Americanverb (used without object)
Etymology
Origin of housekeep
First recorded in 1835–45; back formation from housekeeping
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.
See Examples For:
Like the old woman who lived in a shoe, the medical scientists who housekeep for vitamins have an unmanageable lot of charges.
From Time Magazine Archive
May she continue to write her charming poetry, housekeep, and defend all other keepers of the home for many more years to come.
From Time Magazine Archive
I'll learn to housekeep and cook, and to sew and all that.
From A Dear Little Girl's Thanksgiving Holidays by Amy Ella Blanchard
Perhaps you think I ought to go and housekeep for you.'
From Wylder's Hand by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
There can’t be waste going on in the house—I won’t have it, not when I housekeep, at any rate.
From Polly A New-Fashioned Girl by L. T. Meade
It was the first all-female founded and operated periodical, designed to be an alternative to other women's magazines that typically focused on housekeeping and fashion.
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026
A housekeeping note: This season was produced before the end of the most recent Supreme Court term.
From Slate ● Aug. 22, 2026
That sent long-term rates plunging but they rebounded on Thursday, with Mark Malek, of Muriel Siebert & Co, calling it "a housekeeping move destined to be short-term, at best".
From Barron's ● Aug. 21, 2026
In late 2024, housekeeping supervisors Patsy and Elsy, who are referred to in the first lawsuit against Jenner as well, by their first names only, stepped into their leadership roles.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 1, 2026
Calpurnia had done it until six months ago, but she was so old Atticus did more housekeeping than she, and she returned to the Quarters in honorable retirement.
From "Go Set a Watchman: A Novel" by Harper Lee
"I've housekept so long I likely know what are the belongings of a handy house;" and she too settled herself with paper and pencil and spectacles.
From Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science Volume 17, No. 100, April, 1876 by Various
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.
