KEEP - The Law Mind Legal Dictionary

KEEPAuthored

The Law Mind • 1137 words

Definition

A verb of broad and context-dependent legal significance. In legal usage, "keep" most commonly denotes a continuous or habitual course of conduct rather than a single act. Its precise meaning shifts substantially depending on what is being kept — a business, a record, a nuisance, an animal, or a course of navigation. Courts have consistently read "keep" to imply ongoing maintenance or operation rather than a momentary or isolated event.

The principal legal senses include:

1. To maintain or operate habitually. As in "keep a gaming house," "keep an inn," or "keep a nuisance" — each implying a continuous, established practice rather than a one-time occurrence. A single instance of conduct typically does not satisfy this threshold.

2. To possess and care for. As in "keep an animal" or "keep goods" — implying custody, control, and responsibility for the thing kept.

3. To record and maintain. As in "keep books" or "keep accounts" — implying a regular, ongoing duty to create and preserve accurate records.

4. To hold to; to observe. As in "keep a covenant," "keep a promise," or "keep the peace" — implying faithful adherence to an obligation over time.

5. To maintain a course. In admiralty and navigation law, a vessel directed to "keep her course" is required to continue on the same heading without deviation.

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Common Language

Modern common usage (Wiktionary): To maintain possession of; to remain faithful to a promise or word; to continue in a course of action; to preserve something in a certain state; to record in a ledger or register.

Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): To hold and restrain from departure; to retain in one's power or possession; to not lose.

The gap between common and legal usage is one of emphasis and threshold. In ordinary speech, "keep" may describe a single act of retention or compliance. In legal instruments and statutes, courts have held that "keep" implies continuity and habit — a single day's conduct, a single act, or a momentary possession ordinarily falls short of what a statutory or contractual use of "keep" requires. Researchers encountering the word in criminal statutes (gaming, nuisance, disorderly house) should attend carefully to this distinction.

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Common Confusion

"Keep" is frequently read in historical statutes as equivalent to "maintain," but the two are not always interchangeable. "Maintain" can carry a narrower technical sense in nuisance law (supporting or continuing a nuisance after its establishment), while "keep" stresses the habitual or ongoing operation of the thing. Courts in some jurisdictions have treated the two as synonymous in the context of keeping a nuisance; researchers should not assume that equivalence extends to all contexts or all periods.

The archaic use of "keep" to mean a castle's inner tower or stronghold (the structural fortification sense) is entirely distinct from all of the above and appears only in historical real property and feudal law contexts.

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Why It Matters in Research

"Keep" is a deceptively simple word that has generated substantial interpretive litigation precisely because its meaning pivots on context. Researchers working with criminal statutes — particularly nineteenth-century gaming, nuisance, disorderly house, and licensing laws — must determine whether a single act of the prohibited conduct satisfies the statutory "keeping" requirement or whether the legislature demanded a pattern of habitual conduct. Courts split on this question, and the answer often determined guilt or civil liability.

In contract and property research, "keep in repair," "keep insured," and "keep the peace" are standard covenant formulations whose breach analysis depends on whether "keep" imposes a continuous duty or merely a periodically triggered one.

In admiralty research, "keep her course" carries a specific navigational and liability meaning that interacts with the rules of the road at sea. Researchers should not conflate admiralty uses with the terrestrial senses.

The archaic sense — a keep as a castle fortification — surfaces in feudal land tenure documents and in historical accounts of castle guard obligations. This meaning is functionally obsolete in modern research but can mislead a researcher encountering it in medieval or early common law materials.

Trap for researchers: historical statutes using "keep" without further definition should be read with their contemporaneous case law to determine the threshold of continuity courts applied. The corpus includes jurisdictions that divided sharply on whether a single day's operation of a gaming table constituted "keeping" a gaming table within the meaning of applicable penal acts.

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Historical Dictionary Support

The historical dictionaries converge on the context-dependence of "keep" while each illuminating a different facet.

Bouvier emphasizes the threshold question directly, noting that a single act of play at a gaming table — even a full day's use — was held not to constitute "keeping" a common gaming table within the Penitentiary Act for the District of Columbia. This is a useful anchor for researchers: the historical standard demanded more than one instance.

Anderson's Dictionary is the most analytically organized, cataloguing distinct legal meanings by the object kept: a gaming table (implying use that is not merely temporary), a nuisance (cross-referenced to "maintain"), an inn (keeping a house for travelers for pay), and keeping down interest (paying interest periodically as it accrues). Anderson's treatment makes explicit what the other dictionaries leave implicit — that "keep" is a container word whose content must be drawn from the surrounding legal context.

Black's (1st ed.) devotes its entry almost entirely to the fortification sense (the castle keep), a reflection of that edition's deeper engagement with feudal and real property terminology. Researchers relying on Black's first edition for the operational senses of "keep" will find it underserved there.

Black's (2nd ed.) supplements by noting the navigational sense and referencing the "keep books" usage, but provides less synthesis than Anderson's. Neither Black's edition grapples with the continuity threshold question as directly as Bouvier does.

What the historical dictionaries collectively underserve: the keeping of animals and the liability rules that attached, and the contractual "keep in repair" covenant — both areas extensively litigated in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries that researchers will need to trace through case law rather than the dictionary shelf.

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Jurisdictional Note

The continuity requirement embedded in statutory uses of "keep" varied by jurisdiction and by the specific statute. Some states construed gaming and nuisance statutes to require proof of habitual or repeated conduct; others permitted conviction or civil liability on the basis of a single sustained operation. Researchers must identify the governing jurisdiction's interpretive rule rather than assuming uniformity.

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KEEPmain

Black's Law Dictionary • 1891

A strong tower or hold in the middle of any castle or fortification, wherein the besieged make their last efforts of de- fense, was formerly, in England, called a "keep;" and the inner pile within the castle of Dover, erected by King Henry II. about the year 1153, was termed the "King's Keep;" so at Windsor, etc. It seems to be some- thing of the same nature with what is called abroad a "citadel." Jacob.

KEEPmain

Black's Law Dictionary (2nd Ed.) • 1910

“keep” books. See Backus v. Richardson, 5 Johns, (N. Y.) 483. 5. To maintain continuously and without stoppage or variation; us, when a vessel is said to “keep her course,” that is, continue in motion in the same general direction in which she was previously sailing. See The Britannia, 153 U. S. 180, 14 Sup. Ct. 795, 38 L. Ed. 660. —Keep down interest. The expression “keeping down interest’ is familiar in legal instruments, and means the payment of interest periodically as it becomes due; but it does not include the payment of all arrears of interest which may have become due on ony security from the time when it was executed. 4 El. & Bi. 211.—Keep house. The English bankrupt laws use the paar “keeping house” to denote an act of bankruptcy. It is committed when a trader absents himself from his place of business and retires to his private residence to evade the importunity of creditors. The usual evidence of “keeping house” is refusal to see a creditor who has called on the debtor at his house for money. Robs. Bankr. 119.—Keep in repair. j bound to keep the premises in repair, he must have them in repair at all times during the term; and, if they are at any time out of repair, he is guilty of a breach of the covenant. 1 Barn. & Ald. 585.—Keep open. To allow general access to one’s shop, for purposes of trafic, is a violation of a statute forbidding him to “keep open” his shop on the Lord’s day, although the outer entrances are closed. Com. v. Harrison, 11 Gray (Mass.) 308. To “keep open,” in the sense of such a law, implies a readiness to carry on the usual business in the store, shop, saloon, ete. Lynch v. People, 16 Mich. 472.—Keeping term. In English law. A duty performed by students of law, consisting in eating a sufficient number of dinners in hall to make the term count for the purpose of being called to the bar. Mozley & Whitley —Keeping the peace. Avoiding a breach of the peace; dissuading or preventing others from .breaking the peace.

KEEPmain

Anderson's Dictionary of Law • 1890

Varies in meaning with the connections in which it is found-the context or circumstances. Keep a gaming table. Implies a use not merely temporary.2 Keep a nuisance. See MAINTAIN. Keep a woman. In popular acceptation, imports an illicit relation.3 Keep an inn. Keep a house for the entertainment of travelers and others, for pay.4 Keep down interest. Pay interest periodically as it becomes due.5 Keep house. May be said of a trader who secretes himself in his house to avoid his creditors.6 Keep in repair. See REPAIR. Keep liquor. Keeping spirituous liquor for sale is having possession and control of it with intent and readiness to make a sale or sales. This may be a long-continued practice or it may be instantaneous." Keep open. Implies a readiness to carry on the usual business in a store, saloon, etc.s To allow general access, for purposes of traffic, although the outer entrance is closed.9 Keep the peace. To avoid disturbing the peace; to prevent others from breaking the peace. Keeper. 1. A person placed in charge of attached personalty.10 1 Steph. Pl. 224; 3 Bl. Com. 306. 2 United States v. Smith, 4 Cranch, C. C. 660-63 (1835). • Downing v. Wilson, 36 Ala. 719 (1860). 4 [State v. Stone, 6 Vt. 298 (1834). Regina v. Hutchinson, 82 E. C. L. *211 (1854). Cumming v. Baily, 6 Bing. *370 (1830). State v. Haney, 58 N. H. 379 (1878). Lynch v. People, 16 Mich. 477 (1868). Commonwealth v. Harrison, 11 Gray, 308 (1858). 10 See Cutter v. Howe, 122 Mass. 543 (1877). 2. One who assists in superintending a gaming-house.1 See DISORDERLY HOUSE. 3. One who harbors a dog upon his premises is responsible, as keeper of the animal, for injuries done by him.2 4. Owner, proprietor. See INN; LIVERYSTABLE; SALOON. Keeper of the king's conscience. The lord chancellor - formerly an ecclesiastic. Keeper of the seal. See SEAL, 1.

KEEPv.

Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913

To care; to desire. [Obs.] I kepe not of armes for to yelp [boast]. Chaucer. 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. 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. 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. To preserve from danger, harm, or loss; to guard. Behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee. Gen. xxviii. 15. To preserve from discovery or publicity; not to communicate, reveal, or betray, as a secret. Great are thy virtues . . . though kept from man. Milton. 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. To record transactions, accounts, or events in; as, to keep books, a journal, etc. ; also, to enter (as accounts, records, etc. ) in a book. 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. To supply with necessaries of life; to entertain; as, to keep boarders. 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. To have habitually in stock for sale. 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. 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. 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. Shak. 'Tis hallowed ground; Fairies, and fawns, and satyrs do it keep. J. Fletcher. To observe duty, 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. 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.

KEEPv.

Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913

To remain in any position or state; to continue; to abide; to stay; as, to keep at a distance; to keep aloft; to keep near; to keep in the house; to keep before or behind; to keep in favor; to keep out of company, or out reach. To last; to endure; to remain unimpaired. If the malt be not thoroughly dried, the ale it makes will not keep. Mortimer. To reside for a time; to lodge; to dwell. [Now disused except locally or colloquially.] Knock at his study, where, they say, he keeps. Shak. To take care; to be solicitous; to watch. [Obs.] Keep that the lusts choke not the word of God that is in us. Tyndale. To be in session; as, school keeps to-day. [Colloq.] To keep from, to abstain or refrain from.  -- To keep in with, to keep on good terms with; as, to keep in with an opponent.  -- To keep on, to go forward; to proceed; to continue to advance.  -- To keep to, to adhere strictly to; not to neglect or deviate from; as, to keep to old customs; to keep to a rule; to keep to one's word or promise.  -- To keep up, to remain unsubdued; also, not to be confined to one's bed.

KEEPn.

Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913

The act or office of keeping; custody; guard; care; heed; charge. Chaucer. Pan, thou god of shepherds all, Which of our tender lambkins takest keep. Spenser. The state of being kept; hence, the resulting condition; case; as, to be in good keep. The means or provisions by which one is kept; maintenance; support; as, the keep of a horse. Grass equal to the keep of seven cows. Carlyle. I performed some services to the college in return for my keep. T. Hughes. That which keeps or protects; a stronghold; a fortress; a castle; specifically, the strongest and securest part of a castle, often used as a place of residence by the lord of the castle, especially during a siege; the donjon. See Illust. of Castle. The prison strong, Within whose keep the captive knights were laid. Dryden. The lower chambers of those gloomy keeps. Hallam. I think . . . the keep, or principal part of a castle, was so called because the lord and his domestic circle kept, abode, or lived there. M. A. Lower. That which is kept in charge; a charge. [Obs.] Often he used of his keep A sacrifice to bring. Spenser. A cap for retaining anything, as a journal box, in place. To take keep, to take care; to heed. [Obs.] Chaucer.

keepverb

Wiktionary (English) • 2026

Wiktionary contributors • CC BY-SA 4.0 • via Kaikki
Extracted and formatted for display by Law Mind. Source link opens the current Wiktionary page and its contributor history; it is not a frozen copy of this extract.

To continue in (a course or mode of action); to not intermit or fall from; to uphold or maintain. | To remain faithful to a given promise or word. | To hold the status of something. | To maintain possession of. | To hold the status of something. | To maintain the condition of; to preserve in a certain state. | To hold the status of something. | To record transactions, accounts, or events in. | To hold the status of something. | To enter (accounts, records, etc.) in a book. | To hold the status of something. | To remain in; to be confined to. | To hold the status of something. | To restrain. | To hold the status of something. | To watch over, look after, guard, protect. | To hold the status of something. | To supply with necessities and financially support (a person). | To hold the status of something. | To raise; to care for. | To hold the status of something. | To refrain from freely disclosing (a secret). | To hold the status of something. | To maintain (an establishment or institution); to conduct; to manage. | To hold the status of something. | To have habitually in stock for sale. | To hold or be held in a state. | To reside for a time; to lodge; to dwell. | To hold or be held in a state. | To continue. | To hold or be held in a state. | To remain edible or otherwise usable. | To hold or be held in a state. | To remain in a state. | To hold or be held in a state. | To have rooms at college, at the University of Cambridge. | To wait for, keep watch for. | To act as wicket-keeper. | To take care; to be solicitous; to watch. | To be in session; to take place. | To observe; to adhere to; to fulfill; to not swerve from or violate. | To visit (a place) often; to frequent. | To observe or celebrate (a holiday). | To put (something) back (to its original location or appropriate place); to put away.

Keepname

Wiktionary (English) • 2026

A surname.

keepnoun

Wiktionary (English) • 2026

The main tower of a castle or fortress, located within the castle walls. | The food or money required to keep someone alive and healthy; one's support, maintenance. | The state of being kept; hence, the resulting condition; case. | A cap for holding something, such as a journal box, in place. | The act or office of keeping; custody; guard; care; heed; charge; notice. | That which is kept in charge; a charge. | A mistress (the other woman in an extramarital relationship, generally including sexual relations).

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