[f. KEEP v. + -ING1.] The action of the verb KEEP in various senses.
I. From trans. senses of the vb.
1. Observance of a rule, command, ordinance, institution, practice, promise, etc.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Sel. Wks., III. 350. Keping of Goddis mandementis.
1473–4. Act 12 & 13 Edw. IV., in Rolls Parlt., VI. 33/2. The kepyng of assise of Brede, Wyne, and Ale.
1573. Reg. St. Andrews Kirk Sess. (1889–90), 389. Be superstitius keping of Ȝwill-day halyday.
1678. Wanley, Wond. Lit. World, V. iii. § 15. 474/1. The controversie about the keeping of Easter.
2. The action, task or office of looking after, guarding, defending, taking care of, etc.; custody, charge, guardianship.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 20106. Þan name þe apostil … In-til his keping, þat maidan.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Wks. (1880), 21. God almyȝty takiþ so gret kepyng of smale briddis [etc.].
c. 1440. Gesta Rom., I. xxxv. 357 (Addit. MS.). The porter said, ‘have kepyng of thi self.’
a. 1533. Ld. Berners, Huon, lx. 209. We that hath this place in kepinge are frenchemen.
1651. Hobbes, Leviath., III. xl. 25. The Book of the Law was in their Keeping.
a. 1735. Arbuthnot, John Bull, III. xxi. Misc. Wks. 1751, II. 92. As upright as a new Chancellor, who has the keeping of the King’s Conscience.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., I. xviii. 126. To hand over your impressions to the safe keeping of memory.
b. Guard, defence. On (at, of, upon) one’s keeping, on one’s guard. Obs. exc. dial.
1388. Wyclif, Jer. li. 12. Encreese ȝe kepyng, reise ȝe keperis.
c. 1425. Eng. Conq. Irel., 52. Amorow þay lefte good kypynge yn the syte.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. cxxxix. 167. Than she … sette good kepyng ouer them.
1571. Hanmer, Chron. Irel. (1633), 139. To be more upon their keeping, to prevent treachery.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., I. xi. 2. Henceforth, bee at your keeping well.
1668. Ormonde MSS., in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. V. 71. Some actions … put your petitioner on his keeping.
1898. Kath. Tynan, in Westm. Gaz., 12 Oct., 1/3. He was already, as they say in Ireland, ‘on his keeping’; that is to say, a hunted man.
† c. A flock (of sheep). Cf. herd. Obs. rare–1.
1641. Best, Farm. Bks. (Surtees), 1. A flocke, a keepinge, or a fold of sheepe.
3. The taking care of a thing or person; the giving of attention so as to maintain in good order or condition; the state or condition in which a thing is kept.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 14887. Giue Englische men euen kepynge, Mete & drynke, & oþer þynge.
1468. Chron. Eng., in Hearne, R. Glouc. (1724), 482. His hondes … shewethe sumwhat vnwyt and necclygence, for he vtterliche leueth the kepyng of hem.
1523. Fitzherb., Husb., § 112. Cratches is a soraunce that wyll cause a horse to halte, and commeth of yll kepynge.
1523. Churchw. Acc. St. Giles, Reading, 19. Paid for kepyng of the clok iijs iiijd.
1603. Owen, Pembrokeshire (1891), 280. Farre exceeding anye of the companie for stature, and good keapinge.
1712. J. James, trans. Le Blond’s Gardening, 68. This Keeping consists in mowing the Grass often.
1880. Ann. Rep. R. Hort. Soc., 5. The Garden … in the highest state of keeping which the means of the Society allowed.
4. The maintaining of a state or condition.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xxxvi. (Baptist), 14. Angele als callit wes he, fore kepyng of verginite.
c. 1430. Life St. Kath. (1884), 35. To lese þe name and croune of ȝoure profession by kepynge of silence.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. VI., 170. Exhort them to ye … kepyng of good order within the citie.
1596. Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., V. 261. Beneuolent keiping of kyndnes, cumpanie, and freindschip.
5. Maintenance, sustenance with food; food, fodder; = KEEP sb. 6 c.
1644. Boston Rec. (1877), II. 80. Charity White is allowed 26s. for thirteene weekes keeping of John Berry.
1671. Milton, Samson, 1260. My labours, The work of many hands, which earns my keeping.
1708. Yorksh. Racers, 7. His stable-room and keeping are unpaid.
1876. Holland, Sev. Oaks, xii. 162. Mike thought he could hire a horse for his keeping and a sled for a small sum.
† b. The maintaining of a mistress or lover; the fact or condition of being so maintained. Obs.
1675. Wycherley, Country-Wife, I. Wks. (Rtldg.), 73/2. But prithee … Is not keeping better than marriage?
1678. Dryden, Limberham, Pref. ’Twas intended for an honest Satyr against our crying Sin of Keeping.
1727. Gay, Begg. Op., II. iv. Pray Madam were you ever in keeping?
1768. H. Walpole, Hist. Doubts, 49, note. On the death of the king she [Jane Shore] had been taken into keeping by lord Hastings.
† 6. Confinement, imprisonment; prison. Obs.
1382. Wyclif, Luke xxi. 12. Thei schulen sette hir hondis on ȝou … bitakinge in to synagogis and kepingis [gloss ether prisouns].
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 13953. Telamoc … come out of kepyng to his kid fadur.
1513. More, in Grafton, Chron., II. 772. Her kepyng of the king his brother in that place.
7. The action or fact of retaining as one’s own; retention; pl. things kept or retained.
c. 1400. Rom. Rose, 5594. In getyng he hath such woo, And in the kepyng drede also.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. VI., 152 b. Of the gettyng of this mannes goodes … I wil not speake: but the kepinge of them [etc.].
1634. Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 185. They concluded she was good prize and worth the keeping.
1857. W. Smith, Thorndale, 573. If there is to be any keeping, there must be some limit put on the taking.
8. Reservation for future use; preservation.
1560. Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 434. A piece of bread … so drye … with longe kepinge.
1718. Freethinker, No. 27, ¶ 1. True Wit and Good Sense will bear keeping.
1730. Swift, Betty the Grizette. A tawny speckled pippin Shrivel’d with a winter’s keeping.
1870. L’Estrange, Miss Mitford, I. vi. 181. Are not poems, like port wine, the better for keeping?
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), III. 696. Fruits which spoil with keeping.
9. a. In Painting. orig. The maintenance of the proper relation between the representations of nearer and more distant objects in a picture; hence, in more general sense, ‘the proper subserviency of tone and color in every part of a picture, so that the general effect is harmonious to the eye’ (Fairholt); the maintenance of harmony of composition.
1715. J. Richardson, Th. Painting, 224. The Composition is not to be justifyed…; the Groups are too Regularly placed, and without any Keeping in the whole, that is, they appear too near of an Equal Strength.
1762. Goldsm., Cit. W., lv. [Parodying art slang] ‘What do you think, sir, of that head in the corner, done in the manner of Grisoni? There’s the true keeping in it.’
1768. W. Gilpin, Upon Prints, 20. Keeping then proportions a proper degree of strength to the near and distant parts, in respect to each other.
1780. Johnson, Lett. to Mrs. Thrale, 1 May. There is contour, and keeping, and grace, and expression, and all the varieties of artificial excellence.
1792. J. Gifford, ed. Resid. France (1797), I. 86. Some mixture of splendor and clumsiness, and a want of what the painters call keeping.
1809. Mar. Edgeworth, Absentee, x. In Lady Clonbrony’s mind, as in some bad paintings, there was no keeping; all objects, great and small, were upon the same level.
1859. Gullick & Timbs, Paint., 172. The keeping and repose in this cartoon are inimitable.
b. generally. Agreement, congruity, harmony.
1819. Hazlitt, Eng. Com. Writers, vi. (1869), 153. There is the exquisite keeping in the character of Blifil, and the want of it in that of Tom Jones.
1870. Lowell, Study Wind., 406. For wit, fancy, invention, and keeping, it [the Rape of the Lock] has never been surpassed.
c. Phr. in or out of keeping (with): in or out of harmony or agreement (with).
c. 1790. Imison, Sch. Arts, II. 59. In what respect it is out of keeping; that is, what parts are too light, and what too dark.
1806. F. Horner, Lett., in Life, vii. (1849), 175. They were so in keeping with the whole that the prevailing tone was … never interrupted.
1824. Miss Ferrier, Inher., xlvii. To use an artist phrase, nothing could be more in keeping with the day than the reception Miss S. met with.
1830. Blackw. Mag., XXVII. 310. It is in ‘fine keeping,’ as the phrase is.
1841. Lever, C. O’Malley, I. iv. 18. His own costume of black coat, leathers, and tops, was in perfect keeping.
1841. Myers, Cath. Th., III. v. 14. Such an utterance of Truth would … be out of keeping with our present condition in the flesh.
1878. Bosw. Smith, Carthage, 26. Such few indications as we have are in thorough keeping with the view we have taken of the political exclusiveness of the ruling clique.
II. From intr. senses of the vb.
10. Staying or remaining in a place or in a certain condition; remaining sound.
1742. Lond. & Country Brewer, I. (ed. 4), 22. The Handful of Salt … hinders their Ale from keeping.
1776. J. Hunter, Lett. to Jenner, 22 Jan., Wks. 1835, I. 59. Their keeping into one substance would make me inclinable to believe that it is a new substance.
1785. Sarah Fielding, Ophelia, I. xxv. I took advantage of my disorder to excuse my keeping at home.
III. 11. With adverbs, as keeping back, down, in, out, up: see KEEP v. IV.
1552. Huloet, Kepynge backe or a part, reseruatio, retentio.
a. 1568. Ascham, Scholem., I. (Arb.), 48. Sharpe kepinge in, and bridleinge of youth.
1667. Pepys, Diary, 26 April. He says that the king’s keeping in still with my Lady Castlemaine do show it.
1814. Wellington, 15 May, in Gurw., Desp. (1838), XII. 12. An allowance for the purchase and keeping up of a mule in the public service.
1835. Macaulay, Ess., Mackintosh’s Hist. Rev. (1887), 366. By resistance they meant the keeping out of James the Third.
1884. Nonconf. & Indep., 25 Sept., 927/3. The system of ‘keeping in’ [at school] is barbarous.
1897. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., IV. 371. The keeping down of uræmic accumulation.
IV. 12. attrib. and Comb., as keeping-beer, ewe-lamb, -ground, -sheep, etc.
1741. Compl. Fam.-Piece, I. vi. 284. The Season for brewing Keeping-beer.
1773. Hist. Brit. Dom. N. Amer., II. ii. § 12. 217. When whales are much disturbed, they quit their keeping-ground.
1886. C. Scott, Sheep-Farming, 115. A new system of not weaning the keeping ewe lambs at all.
