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Glite Dictionary
🧹 A cleaning worker 💻 A maintenance program
housekeeper

housekeeper

6.0
A background program that cleans temporary files and frees memory to keep a computer running well
  • noun
  • /ˈhaʊsˌkiːpər/
  • Specialized
translation icon : proceso de mantenimiento

How Automatic

daemon
  • Specialized
5 7.6
housekeeper
  • Specialized
6.0
system program
  • Specialized
3.4
script
  • Specialized
70 3.6

Surface Forms

housekeeper singular
housekeepers plural

Morphology

housekeeper = house + keeper (semi-transparent) = house + keep + er

Formation is the same compound 'house' + 'keeper', but the computing sense is a metaphorical extension (house → system), so the mapping from parts to the technical meaning is not purely literal.

Etymology

Housekeeper is also used for a computer program as a helpful picture: it is house + keeper for your files, a tool that 'keeps' the system tidy. That's why a computing housekeeper cleans old files and frees space to keep the computer running well.