housekeeping

noun

house·keep·ing | \ˈhau̇s-ˌkē-piŋ

Definition of housekeeping

1a : 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 servicestook 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

The Warwick offers owners access to room service and housekeeping, as well as monthly valet parking. — Shannon Rooney, Philly.com, "Living in close quarters: Philly condos of 600 square feet or less," 21 May 2018 Each unit receives concierge services like room service, housekeeping, valet parking and dry cleaning. — Anne Nickoloff, cleveland.com, "Schofield Residences offer luxury downtown Cleveland living: Apartment of the week," 9 May 2018 In Dunbar’s case, a Mandalay Bay housekeeping employee noticed the guns and summoned supervisors before federal agents arrived and seized three pistols, a bolt-action rifle and the two assault-style weapons. — Washington Post, "Lawyers: 2014 arrest at Vegas hotel precursor to killings," 6 July 2018 This is far more than mere housekeeping on the part of an index provider. — Danielle Chemtob, WSJ, "Facebook, Google Aren’t Tech Stocks? What That Means for Investors," 1 July 2018 Her father was a small business owner and her mother did odd jobs, including housekeeping and driving buses, to support their family. — Emily Cassidy /, NBC News, "A force to be reckoned with -- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez," 28 June 2018 Described as a housekeeping and modernization move, Libertyville began brainstorming and enacting zoning changes late last year while a more elaborate storm water system report gets drafted. — Rick Kambic, chicagotribune.com, "Libertyville reaches compromise on flood prevention zoning change," 18 June 2018 For native Angeleno Meghan Markle and Britain’s charming Prince Harry of Wales, the first stop on the way to happily ever after will be setting up housekeeping inside Nottingham Cottage, a.k.a. — Bonnie Mccarthy, latimes.com, "How will Meghan and Harry mash up California style and British (royal) tradition?," 17 May 2018 Home Instead will send people to the care receiver’s home for a broad range of services that include personal care, housekeeping, meal preparation and companionship. — Doug Williams, sandiegouniontribune.com, "How to get anything — from doughnuts to diapers — delivered," 27 Apr. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'housekeeping.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.