kept

American  

[kept] / kɛpt /

verb

1. simple past tense and past participle of keep.

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adjective

1. having the expression of principles, ideas, etc., controlled, dominated, or determined by one whose money provides support.

   a kept press;

   a kept writer.

kept British  

/ kɛpt /

verb

1. the past tense and past participle of keep

2. pejorative a woman maintained by a man as his mistress

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Other Word Forms

• unkept adjective
• well-kept adjective

Etymology

Origin of kept

First recorded in 1670–80 kept for def. 2

Example Sentences

Participants who repeated meals and kept calorie intake stable over time lost more weight than those with more varied diets.

From Science Daily

“I kept saying, ‘What will happen if this falls through?’

From The Wall Street Journal

He was asked about his relationship with a corrupt police officer he said he kept "warm as a contact".

From BBC

Woods, a 15-time major winner, was kept in jail for eight hours after the incident - the minimum allowed under state law - before being released on bail.

From BBC

Asked at a launch event late last year about the phone’s price tag, a Samsung executive said that to bring the device’s price down the company had kept “cutting and cutting again.”

From The Wall Street Journal