Keep v. t. [imp. & p. p. Kept p. pr. & vb. n. Keeping.]
 1. To care; to desire. [Obs.]
    I kepe not of armes for to yelp [boast].   --Chaucer.
 2. To hold; to restrain from departure or removal; not to let go of; to retain in one's power or possession; not to lose; to retain; to detain.
 If we lose the field,
 We can not keep the town.   --Shak.
    That I may know what keeps me here with you.   --Dryden.
    If we would weigh and keep in our minds what we are considering, that would instruct us.   --Locke.
 3. To cause to remain in a given situation or condition; to maintain unchanged; to hold or preserve in any state or tenor.
    His loyalty he kept, his love, his zeal.   --Milton.
    Keep a stiff rein, and move but gently on.   --Addison.
 Note: ☞ In this sense it is often used with prepositions and adverbs, as to keep away, to keep down, to keep from, to keep in, out, or off, etc. “To keep off impertinence and solicitation from his superior.”
 4. To have in custody; to have in some place for preservation; to take charge of.
    The crown of Stephanus, first king of Hungary, was always kept in the castle of Vicegrade.   --Knolles.
 5. To preserve from danger, harm, or loss; to guard.
    Behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee.   --Gen. xxviii. 15.
 6. To preserve from discovery or publicity; not to communicate, reveal, or betray, as a secret.
    Great are thy virtues . . . though kept from man.   --Milton.
 7. To attend upon; to have the care of; to tend.
    And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden, to dress it and to keep it.   --Gen. ii. 15.
    In her girlish age, she kept sheep on the moor.   --Carew.
 8. To record transactions, accounts, or events in; as, to keep books, a journal, etc.; also, to enter (as accounts, records, etc. ) in a book.
 9. To maintain, as an establishment, institution, or the like; to conduct; to manage; as, to keep store.
    Like a pedant that keeps a school.   --Shak.
    Every one of them kept house by himself.   --Hayward.
 10. To supply with necessaries of life; to entertain; as, to keep boarders.
 11. To have in one's service; to have and maintain, as an assistant, a servant, a mistress, a horse, etc.
    I keep but three men and a boy.   --Shak.
 12. To have habitually in stock for sale.
 13. To continue in, as a course or mode of action; not to intermit or fall from; to hold to; to maintain; as, to keep silence; to keep one's word; to keep possession.
    Both day and night did we keep company.   --Shak.
    Within this portal as I kept my watch.   --Smollett.
 14. To observe; to adhere to; to fulfill; not to swerve from or violate; to practice or perform, as duty; not to neglect; to be faithful to.
    I have kept the faith.   --2 Tim. iv. 7.
 Him whom to love is to obey, and keep
 His great command.   --Milton.
 15. To confine one's self to; not to quit; to remain in; as, to keep one's house, room, bed, etc.; hence, to haunt; to frequent.
 'Tis hallowed ground;
 Fairies, and fawns, and satyrs do it keep.   --J. Fletcher.
 16. To observe duly, as a festival, etc.; to celebrate; to solemnize; as, to keep a feast.
    I went with them to the house of God . . . with a multitude that kept holyday.   --Ps. xlii. 4.
 To keep at arm's length. See under Arm, n.
 To keep back. (a) To reserve; to withhold. “I will keep nothing back from you.” --Jer. xlii. 4. (b) To restrain; to hold back. “Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins.”  --Ps. xix. 13.
 To keep company with. (a) To frequent the society of; to associate with; as, let youth keep company with the wise and good. (b) To accompany; to go with; as, to keep company with one on a voyage; also, to pay court to, or accept attentions from, with a view to marriage. [Colloq.]
 To keep counsel. See under Counsel, n.
 To keep down. (a) To hold in subjection; to restrain; to hinder. (b) Fine Arts To subdue in tint or tone, as a portion of a picture, so that the spectator's attention may not be diverted from the more important parts of the work.
 To keep good hours  or To keep bad hours, to be customarily early (or late) in returning home or in retiring to rest.
 To keep house. (a) To occupy a separate house or establishment, as with one's family, as distinguished from boarding; to manage domestic affairs. (b) Eng. Bankrupt Law To seclude one's self in one's house in order to evade the demands of creditors.
 To keep one's hand in, to keep in practice.
 To keep open house, to be hospitable.
 To keep the peace Law, to avoid or to prevent a breach of the peace.
 To keep school, to govern, manage and instruct or teach a school, as a preceptor.
 To keep a stiff upper lip, to keep up one's courage. [Slang]
 To keep term. (a) Eng. Universities To reside during a term. (b) Inns of Court To eat a sufficient number of dinners in hall to make the term count for the purpose of being called to the bar. [Eng.] --Mozley & W.
 To keep touch. See under Touch, n.
 To keep under, to hold in subjection; hence, to oppress.
 To keep up. (a) To maintain; to prevent from falling or diminution; as, to keep up the price of goods; to keep up one's credit. (b) To maintain; to continue; to prevent from ceasing. “In joy, that which keeps up the action is the desire to continue it.”
 Syn: -- To retain; detain; reserve; preserve; hold; restrain; maintain; sustain; support; withhold. -- To Keep. Usage: Retain, Preserve. Keep is the generic term, and is often used where retain or preserve would too much restrict the meaning; as, to keep silence, etc. Retain denotes that we keep or hold things, as against influences which might deprive us of them, or reasons which might lead us to give them up; as, to retain vivacity in old age; to retain counsel in a lawsuit; to retain one's servant after a reverse of fortune. Preserve denotes that we keep a thing against agencies which might lead to its being destroyed or broken in upon; as, to preserve one's health; to preserve appearances.


 Touch, n.
 1. The act of touching, or the state of being touched; contact.
    Their touch affrights me as a serpent's sting.   --Shak.
 2. Physiol. The sense by which pressure or traction exerted on the skin is recognized; the sense by which the properties of bodies are determined by contact; the tactile sense. See Tactile sense, under Tactile.
    The spider's touch, how exquisitely fine.   --Pope.
 Note: ☞ Pure tactile feelings are necessarily rare, since temperature sensations and muscular sensations are more or less combined with them. The organs of touch are found chiefly in the epidermis of the skin and certain underlying nervous structures.
 3. Act or power of exciting emotion.
 Not alone
 The death of Fulvia, with more urgent touches,
 Do strongly speak to us.   --Shak.
 4. An emotion or affection.
    A true, natural, and a sensible touch of mercy.   --Hooker.
 5. Personal reference or application. [Obs.]
    Speech of touch toward others should be sparingly used.   --Bacon.
 6. A stroke; as, a touch of raillery; a satiric touch; hence, animadversion; censure; reproof.
    I never bare any touch of conscience with greater regret.   --Eikon Basilike.
 7. A single stroke on a drawing or a picture.
    Never give the least touch with your pencil till you have well examined your design.   --Dryden.
 8. Feature; lineament; trait.
 Of many faces, eyes, and hearts,
 To have the touches dearest prized.   --Shak.
 9. The act of the hand on a musical instrument; bence, in the plural, musical notes.
 Soft stillness and the night
 Become the touches of sweet harmony.   --Shak.
 10. A small quantity intermixed; a little; a dash.
    Eyes La touch of Sir Peter Lely in them.   --Hazlitt.
    Madam, I have a touch of your condition.   --Shak.
 11. A hint; a suggestion; slight notice.
    A small touch will put him in mind of them.   --Bacon.
 12. A slight and brief essay. [Colloq.]
    Print my preface in such form as, in the booksellers' phrase, will make a sixpenny touch.   --Swift.
 13. A touchstone; hence, stone of the sort used for touchstone. [Obs.] “ Now do I play the touch.”
    A neat new monument of touch and alabaster.   --Fuller.
 14. Hence, examination or trial by some decisive standard; test; proof; tried quality.
    Equity, the true touch of all laws.   --Carew.
    Friends of noble touch .   --Shak.
 15. Mus. The particular or characteristic mode of action, or the resistance of the keys of an instrument to the fingers; as, a heavy touch, or a light touch; also, the manner of touching, striking, or pressing the keys of a piano; as, a legato touch; a staccato touch.
 16. Shipbilding The broadest part of a plank worked top and but (see Top and but, under Top, n.), or of one worked anchor-stock fashion (that is, tapered from the middle to both ends); also, the angles of the stern timbers at the counters.
 17. Football That part of the field which is beyond the line of flags on either side.
 18. A boys' game; tag.
 19. Change Ringing A set of changes less than the total possible on seven bells, that is, less than 5,040.
 20.  An act of borrowing or stealing. [Slang]
 21.  Tallow; -- a plumber's term. [Eng.]
 In touch (a) Football, outside of bounds. --T. Hughes. (b) in communication; communicating, once or repeatedly.
 To be in touch, (a) to be in contact, communication, or in sympathy. (b) to be aware of current events.
 To keep touch. (a) To be true or punctual to a promise or engagement [Obs.]; hence, to fulfill duly a function.
    My mind and senses keep touch and time.   --Sir W. Scott.
 (b) To keep in contact; to maintain connection or sympathy; -- with with or of.  Also to keep in touch.
 Touch and go, a phrase descriptive of a narrow escape.
 True as touch  (i. e., touchstone), quite true. [Obs.]

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