housekeeping

Everyday

1. The work of looking after a home: cleaning, cooking, shopping and paying bills. tree →
2. (in hotels and hospitals) The department that cleans the rooms. tree →
3. Money set aside for running a home («the housekeeping»). tree →
4. (informal) Small tidy-up jobs in an organisation, such as updating files or checking dates. tree →

In the lessons

In everyday life and lessons about the home it covers all the jobs that keep a house running. In stories, Mole takes pride in his housekeeping, and Rat is a good housekeeper. Sense 4 is used at meetings: «a few housekeeping notes before we start».

Examples

• Housekeeping takes a lot of time in a big family. tree →
• Ring housekeeping and ask for more towels. tree →
• Mum keeps the housekeeping money in a jar. tree →
• Mole was proud of his tidy housekeeping. tree →
• Before the assembly, the head did some housekeeping: lost property and the bus times. tree →
• Learning housekeeping skills helps you live on your own. tree →
• She looked after all the housekeeping, prepared the meals, washed the linen. tree →

Note

Uncountable: no «a», no plural. A «housekeeper» is a person paid to run a house. Everyone in a home can share the housekeeping, not only one person.