I. -pə(r) noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English keper, from kepen to keep + -er — more at keep
1. : one that keeps something (as by watching over, guarding, maintaining, supporting, restraining): as
a. : guardian , protector
am I my brother's keeper — Gen 4:9 (Revised Standard Version)
b. : one that conforms to or abides by (as a custom, rite, or law)
a keeper of the Lord's commandments
: one that fulfills (as a promise or pledge)
c. : one that has charge of (as a prison, prisoners, inmates of an institution, the grounds or buildings of an estate, animals in a zoo) ; specifically : gamekeeper
d. : one that owns, maintains, or carries on (as a boarding house, castle, store)
e. : guard
f. obsolete : one that keeps a mistress
g. : one whose vocation or avocation is the care of (as bees)
h. : wicketkeeper
i. : curator
a keeper of manuscripts in a library
j. : one whose job is to keep something in good or satisfactory condition
a boat keeper
a greenhouse keeper
k. : an armature that preserves the intensity of magnetization of a permanent magnet
2. : a device that keeps something in position: as
a. : latch
b. : the strike of a lock
c. : guard ring
d. : locknut
e. : a loop of string tied in the eye of a bowstring to keep it in place when the bow is unbraced
f. : the keep in a locomotive axle box
g. : a leather loop on a rifle sling for holding the sling tight on the arm when firing with the sling
3. : a fruit or vegetable that keeps well
4. : a fish large enough to be legally caught
II. transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Britain : to maintain (a game preserve) under the care of a keeper
marsh … strictly keepered and alive with fowl — Country Life
III. noun
1. : a domestic animal considered with respect to how easy it is to care for
horses that are easy keepers
a hard keeper
2. chiefly Britain : goalkeeper
3. : an offensive football play in which the quarterback runs with the ball
4. : one that is worth keeping : one having genuine or lasting merit
all the songs are keepers , perfectly relaxed and wry — Alanna Nash