keep kosher

verb

to observe the rules of kashrut (Jewish dietary laws)

Meanings

verbkeep kosher (third-person singular simple present keeps kosher, present participle keeping kosher, simple past and past participle kept kosher)

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

  1. to observe the rules of kashrut (Jewish dietary laws)
    1 more example

    In an amazing halachic twist, the Chofetz Chaim (in Sefer Machaneh Yisroel), writing in the late 19th century to Jewish soldiers in the army, notes that if a soldier has the choice to either go to an army base in which he can keep Shabbat but cannot keep kosher or go to a different army base in which he could keep kosher but not Shabbat, he should choose the base that allows for the observance of kashrut and not Shabbat!

    2018 February 1, Yogi Robkin, “Is It Easier To Keep Shabbat Than It Is To Keep Kosher?”, in The Forward

Origin

Partial calque of Yiddish האַלטן כּשר (haltn kosher, “to keep kosher”).

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

keep kosher. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/keep%20kosher

MLA

“keep kosher.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/keep%20kosher. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “keep kosher,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/keep%20kosher.

Source: keep kosher on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.