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 In other cases, Holtz says hotels just can’t hire enough housekeeping staff. — Doug Gollan, Forbes, 7 June 2021 But many of those signed up by recruiters with promises of medical care, equipment or housekeeping services were not dying, The Times found. — Kim Christensen, Los Angeles Times, 30 Apr. 2021 Gonzalez said the new agreement also guarantees that the two Hyatt hotels will restore daily housekeeping service, preserving housekeeper positions. — Randy Diamond, San Antonio Express-News, 24 Mar. 2021 His main job was in housekeeping and offering snack service to employees and visitors to the office. — Shreevar Kheruka For Cnn Business Perspectives, CNN, 2 June 2021 About 120 jobs are available, mostly in housekeeping, security and engineering/maintenance, with hourly pay between $15 and $19. — Trevor Fraser, orlandosentinel.com, 11 May 2021 The posh Phoenician resort will host a job fair for roughly 80 full-, part-time and seasonal positions in areas that include landscaping, food service, housekeeping, spa/recreation, security and front desk. — Russ Wiles, The Arizona Republic, 6 May 2021 The latest Sovereign Grant received by the royals was roughly $120 million, which the family uses solely for official expenses which include payroll, security, travel, housekeeping, maintenance costs and IT expenses. — Ariel Shapiro, Forbes, 10 Mar. 2021 Executive director Philip Richter said the commission will likely address some housekeeping measures on the case at its June 24 meeting. — Jessie Balmert, The Enquirer, 18 May 2021

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.