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 law's Republican authors, North Texas' Rep. Charlie Geren and Sen. Kelly Hancock, billed it as a housekeeping matter, a routine update to rules governing how lawmakers retain records and run debates. — Dallas News, "Castro riding debate wave, redistricting, census rulings could affect Texas, Paxton prosecutor wants out," 2 July 2019 Positions include those in: banquets, beverage, culinary, front office, housekeeping, pool operations, restaurants, security and stewarding. — Marcia Heroux Pounds, sun-sentinel.com, "Hard Rock’s guitar-shaped hotel and casino seeking 600 new workers," 2 July 2019 The price tag goes toward getting meals prepared by a private chef, housekeeping, and enjoying with an infinity pool, a home theater, and a wet bar. — Selena Barrientos, House Beautiful, "Airbnb Luxe is Here, and You Can Now Rent an Entire Island for $146,000 a Night," 27 June 2019 In her artwork that combines illustrations with paper craft, a woman’s hand takes the place of the claw and housekeeping objects replace stuffed toys. — Rohini Kejriwal, Quartz India, "This Indian artist is retelling popular western fairy tales, minus the gender stereotypes," 14 June 2019 Cities often talk about themselves in terms of life, growth, youth—but old age and death are always there too, even when they’re largely ignored or treated as a matter of dull housekeeping. — Neil Shea, National Geographic, "Tokyo became a megacity by reinventing itself," 12 June 2019 Steele said Cleaning for a Reason, a nonprofit that provides free housekeeping to women undergoing treatment for cancer, changed her life. — Maria Carter, Good Housekeeping, "This Amazing Nonprofit Cleans Homes for Cancer Patients Who Can't," 24 Jan. 2016 The apartments would range from 850 to 1,550 square feet, and monthly fees would be between $6,000 to $10,500, including rent, utilities, maintenance, dining, housekeeping, events and the use of all Canyon Ranch amenities. — Nancy Sarnoff, Houston Chronicle, "Canyon Ranch and Hines associated with proposed Tanglewood tower," 4 June 2019 Positions are open in banquets, beverage, cash operations, culinary, front desk, housekeeping, poker, pool operations, public space, restaurants, security, slots and stewarding. — Paul Wiseman, miamiherald, "Looking for work? 1,200 jobs just opened up in a giant guitar," 4 June 2019

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.