to keep house
12
3.0
- phrasal verb
- The little women are happy to keep house and play mother.
Examples
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I kept house for my father, you see.
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Olga will, of course, stay at home to keep house for her father while her mother is gone.
Fiction book (1992) -
Oh, yes, I keep house for my mother.
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The rest of the time, I kept house.
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Now usually, Mary is really good about keeping house.
Fiction book (2001) -
I don't see how I ever managed to keep house without your help.
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I keep house for Mr. Foley.
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The girl of our story keeps house for her father who works in a Jenkins mill.
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Many women recalled learning about hygiene, cleanliness, and keeping house in school.
Academic text (2008) -
I'd love to stay home and keep house, cook, and take care of the kids.
Synonyms
1
6.1
To clean and manage a home and its daily chores
Antonyms
How Organized
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to manage a household and perform domestic chores' is directly derivable from combining 'keep' (to look after/manage) with 'house' (home/household). This compositional pattern ('keep' + noun = maintain/attend to X) is straightforward and cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would likely infer the meaning.
Etymology
The phrase keep house comes from the simple image of someone staying in and looking after their home: to keep the house clean, cook, and fix things. That's why it means 'to manage the home and do the housework'.