| / English Dictionary |
KEEP UP
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (verb)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Prevent from going to bed at night
Example:
I kept myself up all night studying for the exam
Classified under:
Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care
Cause:
sit up; stay up (not go to bed)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Sense 2
Meaning:
Keep informed
Example:
He kept up on his country's foreign policies
Synonyms:
follow; keep abreast; keep up
Classified under:
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.
Verb group:
follow; trace (follow, discover, or ascertain the course of development of something)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP
Sense 3
Meaning:
Maintain a required pace or level
Example:
He could not keep up and dropped out of the race
Classified under:
Verbs of fighting, athletic activities
"Keep up" entails doing...:
compete; contend; vie (compete for something; engage in a contest; measure oneself against others)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "keep up"):
keep pace; keep step (maintain the same pace)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s
Sense 4
Meaning:
Keep in safety and protect from harm, decay, loss, or destruction
Example:
The museum curator conserved the ancient manuscripts
Synonyms:
conserve; keep up; maintain; preserve
Classified under:
Verbs of buying, selling, owning
Hypernyms (to "keep up" is one way to...):
keep (look after; be the keeper of; have charge of)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "keep up"):
embalm (preserve a dead body)
plastinate (preserve (tissue) with plastics, as for teaching and research purposes)
hold the line (hold the line on prices; keep the price of something constant)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s something
Sense 5
Meaning:
Lengthen or extend in duration or space
Example:
keep up the good work
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Verbs of being, having, spatial relations
Hypernyms (to "keep up" is one way to...):
bear on; carry on; continue; preserve; uphold (keep or maintain in unaltered condition; cause to remain or last)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "keep up"):
continue; keep; keep on; retain (allow to remain in a place or position or maintain a property or feature)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Context examples:
If you keep up the pace, you'll be on thirty dollars only one month.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
He found it difficult to keep up the circulation in that hand.
(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)
Despite the pain and helplessness, Spitz struggled madly to keep up.
(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)
I must keep up my deception for at least a little time longer, otherwise here was evidently an end of the interview.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Yet, grave as were his thoughts, they would still turn to wonder as he looked at the twinkling feet of his guide and saw her lithe figure bend this way and that, dipping under boughs, springing over stones, with a lightness and ease which made it no small task for him to keep up with her.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
The reason of our moving was that living was cheaper in the country, and that it was easier for my mother to keep up the appearance of a gentlewoman when away from the circle of those to whom she could not refuse hospitality.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
They were then to set forward for the dockyard at once, and the walk would have been conducted—according to Mr. Crawford's opinion—in a singular manner, had Mr. Price been allowed the entire regulation of it, as the two girls, he found, would have been left to follow, and keep up with them or not, as they could, while they walked on together at their own hasty pace.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
Dan'l, my good man, said she, you must eat and drink, and keep up your strength, for without it you'll do nowt.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
Shaken as I was with these alarms, it was hard for me to keep up with the rapid pace of the treasure-hunters.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
He turned and fled across the water-front, a meagre shadow in a flapping overcoat, with Martin straining to keep up with him.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
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