keep on

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

1. idiomatictransitiveTo persist or continue.

   Keep on trucking!

   2 more examples

   Mum, Jimmy keeps on poking me!

   The young woman kept on down Front Street, Warwick maintaining his distance a few rods behind her.

   1900, Charles W[addell] Chesnutt, chapter I, in The House Behind the Cedars, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company […], →OCLC

   Synonyms: continue, go on

2. idiomaticintransitiveTo persist in talking about a subject, perhaps to the annoyance of the listener.

   For goodness sake, will you stop keeping on about it!

   1 more example

   Coppard was unequivocal when speaking to RAIL about this: "I'll keep on telling the government that MML electrification is really important to us. I raised it with Heidi Alexander [Transport Secretary] last Thursday when she was here."

   2026 April 1, Richard Wilcock, “South Yorkshire's sights on a People's Network”, in RAIL, number 1058, page 23

3. idiomatictransitiveTo cause or allow to remain in an existing position.

   The new boss would like to keep the present secretary on.

   1 more example

   The charge against Zagallo then is not so much that he started Ronaldo, but that when it should surely have been clear that the player was in no fit state to take part he kept him on.

   2010, Brian Glanville, The Story of the World Cup: The Essential Companion to South Africa 2010, London: Faber and Faber, →ISBN, page 361

   1. idiomatictransitiveTo cause or allow to remain in the on or open position.

      Should I turn off this light or keep it on?

      1 more example

      Should I shut off this water or keep it on?

      Synonyms: leave on · Antonyms: turn off, shut off