The second best room in the house.
1790. I found a dark Butterfly in my keeping-room.—Marsham, in Gilbert White’s ‘Selborne,’ ii. 257. (N.E.D.)
1830. The chamber over the keeping-room is that in which the murder was committed.—Mass. Spy, Aug. 25.
1857. Carpets were then only known in a few families, and were confined to the keeping-room and parlor. They were all home-made: the warp consisting of woolen yarn, and the woof of lists and old woolen cloth, cut into strips, and sewed together at the ends.—S. G. Goodrich, ‘Recollections,’ i. 74–5 (Bartlett).
1859. Then we all went eöut into the keepin’-room.—Knick. Mag., liii. 206 (Feb.).
