housekeeper

[ hous-kee-per ]
See synonyms for housekeeper on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a person, often hired, who does or directs the domestic work and planning necessary for a home, as cleaning or buying food.

  2. an employee of a hotel, hospital, etc., who supervises the cleaning staff.

Origin of housekeeper

1
First recorded in 1375–1425, housekeeper is from the late Middle English word houskeper.See house, keeper

Other words from housekeeper

  • house·keep·er·like, adjective

Words Nearby housekeeper

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use housekeeper in a sentence

  • The doctor, a little puzzled, took his leave, but had not gone ten yards when the housekeeper flew screaming after him.

    Uncanny Tales | Various
  • Phœbe pushed Alice's hand in the direction of the passage that leads to the housekeeper's room.

    Checkmate | Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
  • She is thirty-five now, quite plain, and makes a living as a sort of itinerant housekeeper and caterer.

    Ancestors | Gertrude Atherton
  • The housekeeper to the great Lord Wilton, was honour enough to satisfy her moderate ambition.

    The World Before Them | Susanna Moodie
  • The next morning Jess was up before the others, as was fitting for a little housekeeper.

    The Box-Car Children | Gertrude Chandler Warner

British Dictionary definitions for housekeeper

housekeeper

/ (ˈhaʊsˌkiːpə) /


noun
  1. a person, esp a woman, employed to run a household

  2. bad housekeeper a person who is not an efficient and thrifty domestic manager

  1. good housekeeper a person who is an efficient and thrifty domestic manager

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012