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To have a sudden, sharp, local pain, like a twitch; to suffer a keen, darting, or shooting pain; as, the side twinges.

an ear of a horse. By twisting the stick the compression is made sufficiently painful to keep the animal quiet during a slight surgical operation. J. H. Walsh.

whole house. Fruit put in bottles, and the bottles let down into wells under water, will keep long. Bacon. Be gathered now, ye waters under heaven, Into one place. Milton.

To keep under, or in subjection; to suppress. [Obs.] Spenser.

A subordinate keeper or guardian. Gray.

To take or have the charge of. [Obs.] "Who undertakes you to your end." Shak. Keep well those that ye undertake. Chaucer.

To keep close or secret. [Obs.] Daniel.

ater's side, very unhandsome for an army to pass that way, though they found not a man to keep the passage. Sir T. North. -- Un*hand"some*ly, adv. -- Un*hand"some*ness, n.

Having one ridge or keel. Craig.

as, an unwilling servant. And drop at last, but in unwilling ears, This saving counsel, "Keep your piece nine years." Pope. -- Un*will"ing*ly, adv. -- Un*will"ing*ness, n.

To keep erect; to support; to sustain; to keep from falling; to maintain. Honor shall uphold the humble in spirit. Prov. xxix 3. Faulconbridge, In spite of spite, alone upholds the day. Shak.

The act of keeping up, or maintaining; maintenance. "Horse artillery . . . expensive in the upkeep." Scribner's Mag.

A keeper of stock or cattle; a herdsman. [Southwestern U. S.] Bartlett.

Fig.: To invest; to cover; to hide; to conceal. To keep your great pretenses veiled. Shak.

An officer who has the charge of the king's forest, to preserve the vert and venison, keep the assizes, view, receive, and enroll attachments and presentments of all manner of trespasses. Blackstone.

ng.), a vestry. See def. 2, above. -- Vestry clerk, an officer chosen by the vestry, who keeps a record of its proceedings; also, in England, one who keeps the parish accounts and books. -- Vestry meeting, the meeting of a vestry or vestry board; also, a meeting of a parish held in a vestry or other place.…

- now used chiefly in the plural. See Victuals. 2 Chron. xi. 23. Shak. He was not able to keep that place three days for lack of victual. Knolles. There came a fair-hair'd youth, that in his hand Bare victual for the movers. Tennyson. Short allowance of victual. Longfellow.

One who keeps a house of entertainment; a tavern keeper; an innkeeper. Shak.

Abstinence from sleep, whether at a time when sleep is customary or not; the act of keeping awake, or the state of being awake, or the state of being awake; sleeplessness; wakefulness; watch. "Worn out by the labors and vigils of many months." Macaulay. Nothing wears out a fine face like the vigils of the card table an…

To act the virgin; to be or keep chaste; -- followed by it. See It, 5. [Obs.] "My true lip hath virgined it e'er since [that kiss]." Shak.