housekeeper

• house keeper
• house-keeper (archaic)

From house +‎ keeper.

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈhaʊskipɚ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈhaʊskiːpə/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: house‧keep‧er

housekeeper (plural housekeepers)

1. (now rare) Someone who owns a house as a place of residence; a householder. [from 15th c.]
   • 1751, [Tobias] Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC:

     He was often heard to express his fears of coming upon the parish; and to bless God, that, on account of his having been so long a housekeeper, he was intitled to that provision.

2. Someone (traditionally a woman) employed to look after the home, typically by managing domestic servants or superintending household management; also someone with equivalent duties in a hotel, institution etc. [from 16th c.]

   She was their third housekeeper, but after a month or so she also gave up.

3. Someone who manages the running of a home, traditionally the female head of the household. [from 17th c.]
4. (colloquial, now rare) Someone who keeps to their house; someone who rarely ventures away from home; an unadventurous person, a homebody. [from 18th c.]
   • 1915, John Buchan, Salute to Adventurers:

     I do assure you he is no house-keeper. I have seen him in desperate conflict with savage men, and even with His Majesty's redcoats.

• housemaid