keep house

present singular third person keeps house · participle present keeping house · participle past kept house · past kept house

1. idiomaticTo take care of domestic chores; work as a housekeeper.

   So I went to keep house with him at the Why Not? and my aunt sent down my bag of clothes, and would have made over to Elzevir the pittance that my father left for my keep, but he said it was not needful, and he would have none of it.

   [1898], J[ohn] Meade Falkner, Moonfleet, London; Toronto, Ont.: Jonathan Cape, published 1934, →OCLC

2. To seclude oneself in one's house in order to evade the demands of creditors.

   Synonyms: knead