housekeeper

Everyday

1. A person whose job is to look after a house: cleaning, cooking, shopping and running things for the family who live there. tree →
2. In a big old house, the head servant in charge of the other women servants and the household stores. tree →
3. A person who is good or bad at keeping their own home tidy and running: «She is a good housekeeper.» tree →

In the lessons

In stories set in old times (Victorian or Edwardian England) a big house has a housekeeper with keys at her belt who orders the maids about; in Alice the White Rabbit thinks Alice is his housemaid Mary Ann. In everyday life today a housekeeper may work in a hotel, cleaning rooms. Phrases: «a hotel housekeeper», «the housekeeper's room», «good housekeeping» (sensible care of a home or of money).

Examples

• The housekeeper kept the keys to every cupboard in the old house. tree →
• Mrs Hudson was Sherlock Holmes's housekeeper. tree →
• My aunt works as a housekeeper in a big hotel by the sea. tree →
• The housekeeper rang a bell to call the family to dinner. tree →
• Gran says she was never much of a housekeeper, but she was a great cook. tree →
• In the story, the housekeeper heard a strange noise in the attic. tree →
• The housekeeper checked that every room was clean before the guests came. tree →
• She must needs be both a good housekeeper and an experienced mother. tree →

Note

Countable: one housekeeper, two housekeepers. A housekeeper is paid; a housewife or househusband looks after their own home without pay. Not the same as «housekeeping» (the work itself, also a word in computers for tidying files).