🏠 To manage a house 💾 To clean data

to housekeep

6.8

To remove old files and tidy computer data to free space

verb
/ˈhaʊskiːp/

Specialized

: mantener

Each weekend the sysadmin would housekeep old log files to free up disk space for new backups.

Examples

Automated scripts now housekeep daily records by compressing, archiving, and deleting obsolete entries.
I need to housekeep the database regularly.
Before the audit, the team housekept the database, removing duplicates and reorganizing tables for clarity.
The IT team housekeeps the servers every month.
The IT team needs to housekeep the database regularly to optimize performance.
Before the new software update, we should housekeep the old files to free up space.
To improve system efficiency, they decided to housekeep the archives of outdated documents.

How Thorough

overhaul

73 5.1

to housekeep

Specialized

6.8

to maintain

123 3.4

to monitor

627 3.5

Surface Forms

housekeep infinitive

housekept past

housekept past participle

housekeeping present participle

housekeeps third person singular

Morphology

housekeep = house + keep (semi-transparent) = house + keep

The sense extends the household 'housekeeping' concept metaphorically to routine digital or data maintenance, so derivation is understandable but requires domain mapping.

Etymology

Housekeep in computing is a modern use of the same idea: the parts house and keep mean 'home' and 'to look after', so to housekeep files and systems is to tidy them, remove old data, and keep them running well.