/ English Dictionary |
KEEP ON
Pronunciation (US): | (GB): |
I. (verb)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Allow to remain in a place or position or maintain a property or feature
Example:
this garment retains its shape even after many washings
Synonyms:
continue; keep; keep on; retain
Classified under:
Verbs of political and social activities and events
Hypernyms (to "keep on" is one way to...):
keep up; prolong; sustain (lengthen or extend in duration or space)
Verb group:
continue; persist in (do something repeatedly and showing no intention to stop)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Context examples:
So it would be best, since you think so lowly of me, that you should take this path to the left while I keep on upon this one; for it is clear that I can be no fit companion for you.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to be right.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
But your father is not going so far; he is only going to the Crown, quite on the other side of the street, and there are a great many houses; you might be very much at a loss, and it is a very dirty walk, unless you keep on the footpath; but my coachman can tell you where you had best cross the street.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
I will keep on trying, and not get tired, since I have you to help me.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
Not knowing what to trust, I did not know what to do; and so had only to keep on working in what had hitherto been the groove of my life.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
The phones will ring, email will overflow, and texts will keep on coming.
(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)
Poor Mina told me just now, with the tears running down her dear cheeks, that it is in trouble and trial that our faith is tested—that we must keep on trusting; and that God will aid us up to the end.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
I could see that the Professor had carried out in this room, as in the other, his purpose of using the garlic; the whole of the window-sashes reeked with it, and round Lucy's neck, over the silk handkerchief which Van Helsing made her keep on, was a rough chaplet of the same odorous flowers.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
He was so hard up he had to keep on wearing his uniform because he couldn't buy some regular clothes.
(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)