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Antonyms for kept up

Grammar : Verb
Spell : keep
Phonetic Transcription : kip


Definition of kept up

Origin :
  • late Old English cepan "to seize, hold," also "to observe," from Proto-Germanic *kopijanan, but with no certain connection to other languages. It possibly is related to Old English capian "to look," from Proto-Germanic *kap- (cepan was used c.1000 to render Latin observare), which would make the basic sense "to keep an eye on."
  • The word prob. belongs primarily to the vulgar and non-literary stratum of the language; but it comes up suddenly into literary use c.1000, and that in many senses, indicating considerable previous development. [OED]
  • Sense of "preserve, maintain" is from mid-14c. Meaning "to maintain in proper order" is from 1550s; meaning "financially support and privately control" (usually in reference to mistresses) is from 1540s. Related: Kept; keeping.
  • verb maintain, sustain
Example sentences :
  • She kept up a running accompaniment of small talk to the music.
  • Extract from : « K » by Mary Roberts Rinehart
  • The English and the French kept up a conversation with these sugar-plums.
  • Extract from : « The Boy Life of Napoleon » by Eugenie Foa
  • He kept up this accelerated pace to the door of his private room.
  • Extract from : « The Secret Agent » by Joseph Conrad
  • She had kept up a correspondence with her father during his life.
  • Extract from : « Night and Morning, Complete » by Edward Bulwer-Lytton
  • Though ill and poor at this period, he kept up his self-confidence.
  • Extract from : « Heroes of the Telegraph » by J. Munro
  • The thunder was not loud, but it kept up a continuous muttering and rumbling.
  • Extract from : « The Rock of Chickamauga » by Joseph A. Altsheler
  • He kept up the habit which he had learned from a sailor friend.
  • Extract from : « Welsh Fairy Tales » by William Elliott Griffis
  • No doubt there's a certain form to be kept up that it's for something else, but it's only a form.
  • Extract from : « Little Dorrit » by Charles Dickens
  • Although Buel kept up his end of the conversation with Brant, his mind was not on it.
  • Extract from : « One Day's Courtship » by Robert Barr
  • The old establishment, the old ways, have been kept up—nothing more.
  • Extract from : « The Coryston Family » by Mrs. Humphry Ward

Synonyms for kept up

Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019