subs. (colloquial).—1. Board and lodging.
1861. T. HUGHES, Tom Brown at Oxford, I. viii. I performed some services to the College in return for my KEEP.
1869. BLACKMORE, Lorna Doone, xlvi. Moreover, we could not bear the idea that she should labor for her KEEP.
2. (colloquial).—A salaried mistress. See verb. sense 3.
Verb. (old and American).—1. To abide.
1593. SHAKESPEARE, Titus Andronicus, v. 2, 5. Knock at his study where, they say, he KEEPS.
1613. W. BROWNE, Britannia’s Pastorals, I. iv. p. 87.
| The high top’d firres which on that mountain KEEPE, | |
| Have ever since that time beene seene to weepe. |
1626. C. MORE, Life & Death of Sir Thomas More. ‘Letter to Dean Colet.’ Yff the discommodities of the cittie doe, as they may very well, displease you, yet may the countrie about your parish of Stepney afforde you the like delights which that affordes you wherein now you KEEPE.
1633. FLETCHER, Purple Island, v. 25.
| Here stands the palace of the noblest sense, | |
| Here Visus KEEPS, whose court than crystal smoother, | |
| And clearer seems. |
1597. JOSEPH HALL, Satires, v., p. 86.
| Would it not vex thee, where thy syres did KEEP, | |
| To see the dunged folds of dag-tayl’d sheep? |
1742–3. POPE, The Dunciad, iv. 307.
| But chief her shrine where naked Venus KEEPS, | |
| And Cupids ride the Lion of the deeps. |
1785. GROSE, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v. KEEP, to inhabit; Lord, where do you KEEP, i.e., where are your rooms (academical phrase).
1790. J. WINTHROP, History of New England, i. 72. The Tarentines … rifled a wigwam where Mr. Cradock’s men KEPT.
1795. Gentleman’s Magazine, p. 118. He said I ought to have asked for his rooms, or inquired where he KEPT.
1866. ARNOLD, Thyrsis, ll. 42–5.
| He loved each simple joy the country yields, | |
| He loved his mates; but yet he could not KEEP, | |
| For that a shadow lower’d on the fields, | |
| Here with the shepherds and the silly sheep. |
2. (old).—See quot. Cf. Scots’ HAUD.
1724–27. RAMSAY, O Mither Dear! I ’Gin to Fear, in Wks. (1848), II. 281.
| O mither dear! I ’gin to fear, | |
| Tho’ I’m baith good and bonny, | |
| I winna KEEP; for in my sleep | |
| I start and dream of Johny. |
1811. GROSE and CLARKE, Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v. KEEP. … Mother, your tit won’t KEEP; your daughter will not preserve her virginity.
3. (colloquial).—To maintain a woman for bedservice. Hence KEEPER = a man who salaries a standing mistress; TO GO INTO KEEPING = to take service as a bed-fellow; TO TAKE INTO KEEPING = TO KEEP; KEPT-WOMAN = a salaried smock-servant; HOUSE-KEEPER [or HOUSE-BIT] (q.v.); KEEPING-CULLY (q.v.), etc. [See also BROME (The City Wit), Dramatis Personæ for ‘two KEEPING women,’ where it seems to stand for lodging-house keeping.]
1579. T. NORTH, Noble Grecians and Romanes, ‘Fabius Maximus’ (in Tudor Translations, 1895, ii. 78). My good sister, there was a great speache in the Romaines campe that thou wert KEPT by one of the chiefest captaines of the garrison.
1640. RANDOLPH, In Lesbiam et Histrionem, in Wks. [HAZLITT, (1875), ii. 539].
| I wonder what should Madam Lesbia mean | |
| To KEEP young Histrio? |
1663. KILLIGREW, The Parson’s Wedding, i., 1 (DODSLEY, Old Plays (HAZLITT), 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 379). Wan. Will you KEEP me then? Capt. … KEEP thee! I’d marry thee as soon; why, that’s wedding sin: no, no KEEPING, I. Ibid., ii., 7, p. 438. Rather than marry, KEEP a wench.
1678. DRYDEN, All for Love, Prologue. The KEEPING tonies of the pit.
1679. DRYDEN, Limberham; or, The Kind KEEPER [Title].
1721. RAMSAY, The Morning Interview (note), in Wks., i. 281. Limberham. A kind KEEPER.
1732. FIELDING, The Covent Garden Tragedy. i. 9.
| By Jove, I’ll force the sooty tribe to own | |
| A Christian KEEPS a whore as well as they. |
1773. GOLDSMITH, She Stoops to Conquer, i. 2. It was a saying in the place, that he KEPT the best horses, dogs, and girls in the whole country.
1895. Times, 19 June, p. 5, col. 6. They allow their daughter, Alma, to be KEPT by Herr Mühlink’s son.
TO KEEP ONE’S EYES SKINNED (POLISHED, or PEELED, or ONE’S WEATHER EYE LIFTED, NOSE OPEN, or END UP, etc.), verb. phr. (common).—To take care; to maintain a position; to be wide-awake, or FLY (q.v.).
1843. W. T. PORTER, ed., The Big Bear of Arkansas, etc., p. 134. KEEP YOUR EYE SKINNED for sign, and listen for my horn!
1848. RUXTON, Life in the Far West, p. 14. ‘Yep, old gal! and KEEP YOUR NOSE OPEN; thar’s brown-skin about.
1887. F. FRANCIS, Jun., Saddle and Moccasin, viii. 138. If you have business to attend to, you’d best go right along and do it. KEEP YOUR EYES SKINNED, of course, but don’t stay home.
1888. FROUDE, The English in the West Indies. Americans KEEP THEIR EYES SKINNED as they call it, to look out for other openings.
1890. W. C. RUSSELL, An Ocean Tragedy, p. 88. I bade my friend Jack KEEP HIS EYE POLISHED.
1891. Herald, 19 July. ‘Old fellow,’ he said, ‘we must go with them and KEEP OUR EYES PEELED, for they don’t none of ’em mean to be square any more’n I do.’
1892. R. L. STEVENSON and L. OSBOURNE, The Wrecker, p. 21. ‘And do you think, Loudon,’ he replied, ‘that a man who can paint a thousand-dollar picture has not grit enough to KEEP HIS END UP in the stock market?’
1892. Ally Sloper’s Half Holiday, 19 March, p. 94, col. 3. ‘Don’t forget it’s Leap Year ’Hity; KEEP YOUR WEATHER EYE PEELED.’
TO KEEP COMPANY, verb. phr. (old).—1. To go into society; to entertain often and be often entertained.
1658. R. BROME, The Covent-Garden Weeded, ii., 1, p. 24. Crof. Why Sir did not I KEEP COMPANIE think you when I was young? Ha!
2. (colloquial).—To sweetheart: said of both sexes.
1835. DICKENS, Sketches by Boz, p. 140. Mr. Wilkins KEPT COMPANY with Jemima Evans.
TO KEEP A PIG, verb. phr. (Oxford University).—To have a lodger. [The PIG (q.v.) is usually a freshman who, the college being full, is quartered on a student whose rooms include two bedchambers.]
TO KEEP A STIFF UPPER LIP (or ONE’S PECKER UP), verb. phr. (general).—To stand firm; to keep up a heart; TO CHUCK OUT ONE’S CHEST.
TO KEEP THE DOCTOR, verb. phr. (common).—To retail adulterated drinks: Cf. DOCTOR.
TO KEEP CHAPEL, verb. phr. (university).—See quot. 1852.
1850. Household Words, ii. p. 161. ‘As you have failed to make up your number of chapels the last two weeks,’ such were the very words of the Dean, ‘you will, if you please, KEEP every CHAPEL till the end of the term.’
1852. BRISTED, Five Years in an English University, 32. The undergraduate is expected to go to Chapel eight times, or, in academic parlance, to KEEP eight CHAPELS a week.
TO KEEP cave, verb. phr. (Eton College).—To watch and give warning on a tutor’s approach.
1883. J. BRINSLEY RICHARDS, Seven Years at Eton, iv. Another had to mount guard in the passage, or on the staircase, TO ‘KEEP cave.’
TO KEEP DOWN THE CENSUS, verb. phr. (common).—To procure abortion; to masturbate. Fr. taper un môme.
TO KEEP DARK (or IT DARK), verb. phr. (colloquial).—To keep secret.
1868. C. READE and BOUCICAULT, Foul Play, vii. I always thought it was a pity she KEPT IT SO DARK.
1888. J. RUNCIMAN, The Chequers, p. 120. I’ll KEEP DARK.
1888. BOLDREWOOD, Robbery under Arms, xii. It’ll give us all we know to KEEP DARK when this thing gets into the papers.
1892. HUME NISBET, The Bushranger’s Sweetheart, p. 33. ‘Never mind, Moll, I’ll KEEP the next time DARK, you bet.’
TO KEEP SLOOM, verb. phr. (tailors’).—To keep quiet.
TO KEEP IT UP, verb. phr. (common).—To continue anything vigorously; specifically to prolong a debauch.
1773. GOLDSMITH, She Stoops to Conquer, iii. 1. ‘He mistook you for the bar-maid, madam.’ ‘Did he? Then, as I live, I’m resolved to KEEP UP the delusion.’
1775. SHERIDAN, The Rivals, i. 1. Their regular hours stupefy me—not a fiddle nor a card after eleven! However Mr. Faulkland’s gentleman and I KEEP IT UP a little in private parties.
1788. G. A. STEVENS, The Adventures of a Speculist, ii. 52. Yet they were KEEPING IT UP, as they called it; singing, though they wanted spirits.
1811. GROSE and CLARKE, Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v. We KEPT IT UP finely last night; metaphor drawn from the game of shuttlecock.
1836. DICKENS, Pickwick Papers [ed. 1857], p. 443. We were KEEPING IT UP pretty tolerably at the stump last night.
1857–61. H. MAYHEW, London Labour and the London Poor, III. 57. We KEEPS IT UP for half an hour, or an hour … if the browns tumble in well.
1879. Athenæum, 5 July, p. 13, col. 2. He puts some excellent remarks on the question of KEEPING IT UP into a conversation among some of his Roman artists.
TO KEEP DRY, verb. phr. (American).—To hold one’s tongue; TO KEEP DARK (q.v.).
1887. F. FRANCIS, Jun., Saddle and Moccasin, xv. 273. Never let them get a chance at your sentiment; KEEP THAT DRY.
TO KEEP ONE BACK and BELLY, verb. phr. (common).—To feed and clothe.
FOR KEEPS, phr. (schoolboys’).—To keep for good.
1886. The Advance, 9 Dec. We, the undersigned, promise not to play marbles FOR KEEPS, nor bet nor gamble in any way.
TO KEEP THE DOOR, verb. phr. (old).—To play the bawd.
TO KEEP THE POT BOILING, (colloquial).—To go on with anything; to ‘keep the game alive.’
TO KEEP (or HOLD) ONE’S HAIR ON. See HAIR.
TO KEEP OPEN HOUSE, verb. phr. (tramps’).—To sleep in the open air; TO DO A STAR PITCH. For synonyms, see HEDGE-SQUARE.
TO KEEP UP TO THE COLLAR, verb. phr. (common).—To keep hard at work.
1861. T. HUGHES, Tom Brown at Oxford, II. ii. Hardy KEPT him pretty well UP TO THE COLLAR.
TO KEEP SHEEP BY MOONLIGHT, verb. phr. (old).—To hang in chains.
AS LONG AS I CAN BUY MILK I SHALL NOT KEEP A COW, phr. (venery).—See KEEP, verb. sense 3.
1680. BUNYAN, Life and Death of Mr. Badman [ed. 1696], p. 208. When … asked the reason he would make this answer. ‘Who would KEEP A COW of their own THAT CAN HAVE A QUART OF MILK FOR A PENNY?’ Meaning, who would be at the charge to have a wife that can have a whore when he listeth?
HE CAN’T KEEP A HOTEL, phr. (American).—A phrase intimating lack of administrative capacity.
