KEEPER

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does keeper mean? 

• KEEPER (noun)
  The noun KEEPER has 2 senses:

1. someone in charge of other people

2. one having charge of buildings or grounds or animals

  Familiarity information: KEEPER used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• KEEPER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Someone in charge of other people

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Context example:

am I my brother's keeper?

Hypernyms ("keeper" is a kind of...):

defender; guardian; protector; shielder (a person who cares for persons or property)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "keeper"):

baby farmer (someone who runs an establishment that houses and cares for babies for a fee)

baby minder; babyminder; minder (a person who looks after babies (usually in the person's own home) while the babys' parents are working)

baby-sitter; babysitter; sitter (a person engaged to care for children when the parents are not home)

gaoler; jailer; jailor; prison guard; screw; turnkey (someone who guards prisoners)

nanny; nurse; nursemaid (a woman who is the custodian of children)

Derivation:

keep (look after; be the keeper of; have charge of)

Sense 2

Meaning:

One having charge of buildings or grounds or animals

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

custodian; keeper; steward

Hypernyms ("keeper" is a kind of...):

defender; guardian; protector; shielder (a person who cares for persons or property)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "keeper"):

caretaker (a custodian who is hired to take care of something (property or a person))

conservator; curator (the custodian of a collection (as a museum or library))

game warden; gamekeeper (a person employed to take care of game and wildlife)

greenskeeper (someone responsible for the maintenance of a golf course)

house sitter (a custodian who lives in and cares for a house while the regular occupant is away (usually without an exchange of money))

janitor (someone employed to clean and maintain a building)

lighthouse keeper (the keeper of a lighthouse)

critter sitter; pet sitter (someone left in charge of pets while their owners are away from home)

zoo keeper (the chief person responsible for a zoological garden)

Derivation:

keep (look after; be the keeper of; have charge of)

 Context examples 

The keeper would not enter on what he called "business" until the supper was over, and we were all satisfied.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

“Tell me, friend,” said Alleyne to the portly red-faced inn-keeper, “has a knight and a squire passed this way within the hour?”

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Not at all—it bears the most gracious message in the world: for the rest, you are not my conscience-keeper, so don't make yourself uneasy.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

There he scribbled a short note for Stanley Hopkins, and left it with the lodge-keeper.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

There may be some door-keeper or attendant—

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Jackson drove by just now, and most of the ring-keepers are up.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“That makes a hundred and fifty,” the saloon-keeper calculated; “and he’s worth it, or I’m a squarehead.”

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

I have seen him follow Wolf Larsen about with his eyes, like an animal its keeper, the while the animal-like snarl sounded deep in his throat and vibrated forth between his teeth.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

They go about with her, now, more like her keepers than her husband and sister-in-law.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)