housekeeping

noun

house·​keep·​ing ˈhau̇s-ˌkē-piŋ 

1

a

: the management of a house and home affairs

… coming home to husbands who won't share in the housekeeping …

—The Wilson Quarterly

The first defense against insect infestation is good housekeeping (regular vacuuming) to remove eggs and larvae from the fabrics.

—Sara J. Wolf

b

: the work or activity of cleaning and preparing rooms for customers (as in a hotel)

—often used before another noun

housekeeping services

took a housekeeping job at a nearby hotel

also : the department or employees responsible for doing such work

If you need fresh towels you can call housekeeping.

2

: the care and management of property and the provision of equipment and services (as for an industrial organization)

3

: the routine tasks that must be done in order for a system to function or to function efficiently

performing some computer housekeeping by deleting old files

Examples of housekeeping in a Sentence

We took the computer offline to do some basic housekeeping.

Recent Examples on the Web

All of the most desirable hotel amenities were at my fingertips as a resident, including on-site dining, pools and hot tubs, daily housekeeping service, and a full en-suite kitchen. —Kim Westerman, Forbes, 1 Nov. 2024

The debauchery gets cut short when the vampires struggle to slumber and realize that housekeeping swept away their ancestral dirt. —Proma Khosla, IndieWire, 29 Oct. 2024

According to the lawsuit, hotel employees told housekeeping staff at the hotel not to change the bed skirts on a regular basis or not to inspect them for bedbugs. —Saleen Martin, USA TODAY, 14 Oct. 2024

There’s also weekly housekeeping and personal laundry service. —Jessica Peralta, Orange County Register, 20 Sep. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1529, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing housekeeping

• light housekeeping
• set up housekeeping

Kids Definition

housekeeping

noun

house·​keep·​ing

ˈhau̇-ˌskē-piŋ

: the care and management of a house and home affairs