housekeeper

noun

house·​keep·​er ˈhau̇s-ˌkē-pər 

1

: one employed to manage the domestic duties involved in maintaining a house

2

: a member of a household who manages the domestic duties of the household

She was her father's housekeeper …

—Lucy Maud Montgomery

especially : one who keeps house in a specified way

was always a good/poor housekeeper

… a tidy housekeeper who kept flowers outside his unit …

—Kyle Swenson

Synonyms

• maid

Examples of housekeeper in a Sentence

they hired a housekeeper to help their aging parents live at home

Recent Examples on the Web

The best bit for the housekeepers? —Mattias Goldmann, Forbes.com, 10 Sep. 2025

Last year, while our house was being vacuumed by a housekeeper, Butch bit her on her calf. —Jeanne Phillips, Mercury News, 10 Sep. 2025

Joseph is the son of Arnold Schwarzenegger and his housekeeper, Mildred Baena, and was born in 1998. —Lea Veloso, StyleCaster, 9 Sep. 2025

Rounding out the unhappy home — two times a week, anyway — is Rina (Monika Frajczyk), an undocumented Macedonian housekeeper who’s been half-persuaded and half-threatened by Chris into taking the job despite her horror at seeing Tommy trapped in the basement. —Angie Han, HollywoodReporter, 5 Sep. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1528, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Rhymes for housekeeper

• beekeeper
• bookkeeper
• doorkeeper
• gamekeeper
• gatekeeper
• goalkeeper
• innkeeper
• minesweeper
• peacekeeper
• shopkeeper
• storekeeper
• timekeeper

Kids Definition

housekeeper

noun

house·​keep·​er ˈhau̇-ˌskē-pər 

: a person employed to take care of a house