set up housekeeping

1. Move in together, as in Couples today often set up housekeeping long before they marry. [Mid-1800s]

Example Sentences

Exactly who set up housekeeping there in the earliest days isn’t 100% clear, says historian David Buerge, author of “Chief Seattle and the Town that Took His Name.”

From Seattle Times

“Every negro woman wants to set up housekeeping,” wrote a disdainful white resident of upcountry Georgia.

From Seattle Times

“That’s a housewifely taste which I am glad to see. I had a young friend who set up housekeeping with six sheets, but she had finger bowls for company and that satisfied her,” said Mrs. March, patting the damask tablecloths, with a truly feminine appreciation of their fineness.

From Literature

Presently Jo said cheerfully, for she didn’t want the coming home to be a sad one, “I can’t make it true that you children are really married and going to set up housekeeping. Why, it seems only yesterday that I was buttoning Amy’s pinafore, and pulling your hair when you teased. Mercy me, how time does fly!”

From Literature

She likewise set up housekeeping in the sideboard, and managed a microscopic cooking stove with a skill that brought tears of pride to Hannah’s eyes, while Demi learned his letters with his grandfather, who invented a new mode of teaching the alphabet by forming letters with his arms and legs, thus uniting gymnastics for head and heels.

From Literature