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
- 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