keeping room

English

Alternative forms

• keeping-room

Etymology

From keep, meaning abide.

Noun

keeping room (plural keeping rooms)

1. (dated, dialect, UK, US, New England) The main room of a house.
   • 1998, Lisa Skolnik, ADL: American Country, page 31:

     The keeping room became less utilitarian as kitchens, storage area, and bedrooms were added onto homes.

   • 2004, Carla Neggers, Night Scents, page 10:

     The keeping room, with its large, open-hearth fireplace, served as her kitchen and main living area.

   • 2006, Blue Balliett, Nantucket Ghosts, page 17:

     The keeping room, where most of the cooking and living was once done, has five doors: one on either side of the fireplace, opening into each of the front parlors, one to a borning room on the west, one to a weaving room on the east, and one to a summer kitchen in back.

   • 2011, Annette R. Federico, Gilbert and Gubar's The Madwoman in the Attic After Thirty Years:

     Taking to her bed is Baby Suggs's act of surrender; the keeping room becomes her final enclosure—she only leaves it after her death.

Usage notes

Originally, when houses were very small (one or two room cabins), the keeping room was used for multiple purposes, including cooking, living, storage, sleeping, etc. Eventually, as more rooms were added to houses, it became a family sitting room.