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Keep vs Main - What's the difference?

keep | main |

As nouns the difference between keep and main

is that keep is (obsolete) care, notice while main is .

As a verb keep

is to continue in (a course or mode of action); not to intermit or fall from; to maintain.

keep

English

Verb

  • To continue in (a course or mode of action); not to intermit or fall from; to maintain.
  • :
  • *(William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • *:Both day and night did we keep company.
  • *(Tobias Smollett) (1721–1771)
  • *:within the portal as I kept my watch
  • To hold the status of something.
  • #To maintain possession of.
  • #:
  • #To maintain the condition of.
  • #:
  • #:
  • #*
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=10 , passage=Mr. Cooke had had a sloop?yacht built at Far Harbor, the completion of which had been delayed, and which was but just delivered.
  • #*{{quote-book, year=1935, author= George Goodchild
  • , title=Death on the Centre Court, chapter=1 , passage=She mixed furniture with the same fatal profligacy as she mixed drinks, and this outrageous contact between things which were intended by Nature to be kept poles apart gave her an inexpressible thrill.}}
  • #(lb) To record transactions, accounts, or events in.
  • #:
  • #(lb) To enter (accounts, records, etc.) in a book.
  • #(label) To remain in, to be confined to.
  • #*1605 , (William Shakespeare), (King Lear) , III.ii,
  • #*:The wrathful skies / Gallow the very wanderers of the dark / And make them keep their caves.
  • #To restrain.
  • #:
  • # To watch over, look after, guard, protect.
  • #:
  • #*1590 , (Edmund Spenser), (The Faerie Queene) , II.viii:
  • #*:cursse on thy cruell hond, / That twise hath sped; yet shall it not thee keepe / From the third brunt of this my fatall brond.
  • #To supply with necessities and financially support a person.
  • #:
  • #(lb) To raise; to care for.
  • #:
  • #*1914 , Robert Joos, Success with Hens , Forbes & company, p.217:
  • #*:Of course boys are boys and need watching, but there is little watching necessary when they keep chickens.
  • #*{{quote-news, year=2011, date=December 14, author=Steven Morris, work=(The Guardian), title= Devon woman jailed for 168 days for killing kitten in microwave
  • , passage=Jailing her on Wednesday, magistrate Liz Clyne told Robins: "You have shown little remorse either for the death of the kitten or the trauma to your former friend Sarah Knutton." She was also banned from keeping animals for 10 years.}}
  • #To maintain (an establishment or institution); to conduct; to manage.
  • #*(William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • #*:like a pedant that keeps a school
  • #*Sir (c.1564-1627)
  • #*:They were honourably brought to London, where every one of them kept house by himself.
  • #*
  • #*:At half-past nine on this Saturday evening, the parlour of the Salutation Inn, High Holborn, contained most of its customary visitors.In former days every tavern of repute kept such a room for its own select circle, a club, or society, of habitués, who met every evening, for a pipe and a cheerful glass.
  • #To have habitually in stock for sale.
  • To hold or be held in a state.
  • #(lb) To reside for a time; to lodge; to dwell.
  • #:
  • #*(William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • #*:Knock at his study, where, they say, he keeps .
  • #To continue.
  • #:
  • #*, chapter=22
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=Not unnaturally, “Auntie” took this communication in bad part.
  • #*{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-28, author=(Joris Luyendijk)
  • , volume=189, issue=3, page=21, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Our banks are out of control , passage=Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic
  • #To remain edible or otherwise usable.
  • #:
  • #:
  • #*1707 , John Mortimer], ''[http://books.google.com.au/books?id=8xUAAAAAQAAJ&redir_esc=y The Whole Art of Husbandry
  • #*:If the malt be not thoroughly dried, the ale it makes will not keep .
  • #(lb) To remain in a state.
  • #:
  • #:
  • (lb) To wait for, keep watch for.
  • *:
  • *:And thenne whan the damoysel knewe certaynly that he was not syre launcelot / thenne she took her leue and departed from hym / And thenne syre Trystram rode pryuely vnto the posterne where kepte hym la beale Isoud / and there she made hym good chere and thanked god of his good spede
  • To act as wicket-keeper.
  • :
  • To take care; to be solicitous; to watch.
  • *(William Tyndale) (1494-1536)
  • *:Keep that the lusts choke not the word of God that is in us.
  • To be in session; to take place.
  • :
  • (lb) To observe; to adhere to; to fulfill; not to swerve from or violate.
  • *Bible, iv. 7
  • *:I have kept the faith.
  • *(John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • *:Him whom to love is to obey, and keep / His great command.
  • To confine oneself to; not to quit; to remain in.
  • :
  • To visit (a place) often; to frequent.
  • * (1579-1625)
  • *:'Tis hallowed ground; / Fairies, and fawns, and satyrs do it keep .
  • Synonyms

    * (maintain possession of) retain * (maintain the condition of) preserve, protect

    Derived terms

    (keep) * keep-away * keep around * keep at * keep away * keep back * keep down * keep faith * keep fit * keep from * keep going * keep in mind * keep it down * keep it on the barber pole * keep it real * keep it up * keep mum * keep off * keep on * keep on truckin' * keep one's cards close to one's chest * keep one's cool * keep one's eye on the ball * keep one's eyes peeled * keep one's head * keep one's head above water * keep one's lips sealed * keep one's peace * keep one on one's toes * keep oneself to oneself * keep out * keep out of * keep quiet * keep shtum * keep somebody in stitches * keep somebody posted * keep someone in the loop * keep straight * keep tabs on * keep the peace * keep the wolf from the door * keep track * keep up * keep up with * keep wicket * keep with * keep your pecker up * keep one's hair on * keep one's shirt on * keepalive * keepie-uppie/keepy-uppy * keepnet * keepsake

    Noun

    (wikipedia keep) (en noun)
  • (obsolete) Care, notice
  • *:
  • *:So Sir Gareth strayned hym so that his olde wounde braste ayen on bledynge; but he was hote and corragyous and toke no kepe , but with his grete forse he strake downe the knyght.
  • (historical) The main tower of a castle or fortress, located within the castle walls. (According to , the word comes "from the Middle English term kype , meaning basket or cask, and was a term applied to the shell keep at Guînes, said to resemble a barrel".)
  • The food or money required to keep someone alive and healthy; one's support, maintenance.
  • :He works as a cobbler's apprentice for his keep .
  • The act or office of keeping; custody; guard; care; heed; charge.
  • *Spenser
  • *:Pan, thou god of shepherds all, / Which of our tender lambkins takest keep .
  • The state of being kept; hence, the resulting condition; case.
  • :to be in good keep
  • (obsolete) That which is kept in charge; a charge.
  • *Spenser
  • *:Often he used of his keep / A sacrifice to bring.
  • (engineering) A cap for holding something, such as a journal box, in place.
  • Derived terms

    * earn one's keep

    See also

    * donjon

    Statistics

    *

    main

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) (m), (m), (m), partly from (etyl) . More at (may).

    Adjective

    (-)
  • (label) Great in size or degree; vast; strong; powerful; important.
  • * (Samuel Daniel) (1562-1619)
  • Principal; prime; chief; leading; of chief or principal importance.
  • * (John Tillotson) (1630-1694)
  • * , chapter=7
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=With some of it on the south and more of it on the north of the great main thoroughfare that connects Aldgate and the East India Docks, St. Bede's at this period of its history was perhaps the poorest and most miserable parish in the East End of London.}}
  • *{{quote-book, year=1935, author= George Goodchild
  • , title=Death on the Centre Court, chapter=5 , passage=By one o'clock the place was choc-a-bloc. […] The restaurant was packed, and the promenade between the two main courts and the subsidiary courts was thronged with healthy-looking youngish people, drawn to the Mecca of tennis from all parts of the country.}}
  • Principal or chief in size or extent; largest; consisting of the largest part; most important by reason or size or strength.
  • * (John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Yesterday’s fuel , passage=The dawn of the oil age was fairly recent. Although the stuff was used to waterproof boats in the Middle East 6,000 years ago, extracting it in earnest began only in 1859 after an oil strike in Pennsylvania.
  • Full; undivided; sheer (of strength, force etc.).
  • * 1817 , (Walter Scott), , XII:
  • (label) Belonging to or connected with the principal mast in a vessel.
  • (label) Big; angry.
  • Derived terms
    * main drag * main road

    Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • Very; very much; greatly; mightily; extremely; exceedingly.
  • * 1799 , Samuel Foote, The works of Samuel Foote :
  • * 1840 , Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Leigh Hunt, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, The dramatic works of Richard Brinsley Sheridan :
  • Etymology 2

    From (etyl) , later also taking senses from the adjective.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • * Spenser
  • That which is chief or principal; the chief or main portion; the gross; the bulk; the greater part.
  • * Francis Bacon
  • * 1858 , Humphrey Prideaux, James Talboys Wheeler, An historical connection of the Old and New Testaments :
  • * Francis Bacon
  • * 1624 , John Smith, Generall Historie , in Kupperman 1988, page 90:
  • * 1624 , John Donne, Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions, and severall steps in my Sicknes (Meditation XVII):
  • * 1851 , Herman Melville, Moby-Dick :
  • * Dryden
  • A large pipe or cable providing utility service to a building or area, such as water main or electric main.
  • (label) The mainsail.
  • Derived terms
    {{der3, (large pipe or cable) gas main, mains (qualifier), water main , in the main , main brace , main drag , maincrop , mainframe , mainland , mainline, main line , mainmast , mainplane , mainsail , mainsheet , mainspring , mainstreet, main street , maintop , maintopmast}}

    Etymology 3

    ; compare (manual).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A hand or match in a game of dice.
  • (Prior)
    (Thackeray)
  • A stake played for at dice.
  • * Shakespeare, The First Park of King Henry IV
  • The largest throw in a match at dice; a throw at dice within given limits, as in the game of hazard.
  • A match at cockfighting.
  • * Thackeray
  • A main-hamper, or fruit basket.
  • (Ainsworth)

    Statistics

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    Anagrams

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