keeper

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. One that keeps, especially:
2. n. An attendant, a guard, or a warden.
3. n. One that has the charge or care of something: a lion keeper; the keeper of the budget.
4. n. Sports A goalkeeper.
5. n. Football A play made by the quarterback who keeps the ball after it is snapped and then runs with it.
6. n. Informal One that is worth keeping, especially a fish large enough to be legally caught.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. One who keeps, observes, or obeys.
2. n. One who has the charge or keeping of anything; a caretaker; a custodian: often forming the second element of a compound: as, the keeper of the seals; a house keeper; a game keeper.
3. n. One who maintains or carries on as proprietor; an owner or independent controller: as, a store keeper; an inn keeper.
4. n. One who stays or abides.
5. n. One who holds or maintains possession.
6. n. That which keeps; something that serves as a guard or protection. Specifically— A ring which keeps another on the finger. See guard-ring.
7. n. A key which admits of being readily inserted and removed at pleasure to keep an object in its place.
8. n. A loop on the end of a strap fitted with a bnckle, through which the other end is run after passing through the buckle; a small clasp.
9. n. The box on a door-jamb into which the bolt of a lock protrndes when shot.
10. n. A jamnut.
11. n. A piece of soft iron placed in contact with the poles of a magnet when not in use, which tends, by induction, to maintain and even increase the power of the magnet; an armature.
12. n. In the electromagnet of a dynamo, one of the lateral projections from the polar extremities to bring them just as near to the revolving armature as they can be without actually touching it.
13. n. A reelkeeper.
14. n. The mousing of a hook, which keeps it from being accidentally disengaged
15. n. The gripper of the flint in a flint-lock gun.
16. n. In cricket, a wicket-keeper or stumper.

Wiktionary

1. n. One who keeps.
2. n. slang A person or thing worth keeping.
3. n. A person charged with guarding or caring for, storing, or maintaining something; a custodian, a guard. Short form of gamekeeper (Wikipedia).
4. n. sports The player charged with guarding a goal or wicket. Short form of goalkeeper, wicketkeeper.
5. n. A part of a mechanism that catches or retains another part, for example the part of a door lock that fits in the frame and receives the bolt.
6. n. American football An offensive play in which the quarterback runs toward the goal with the ball after it is snapped.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. One who, or that which, keeps; one who, or that which, holds or has possession of anything.
2. n. One who retains in custody; one who has the care of a prison and the charge of prisoners.
3. n. One who has the care, custody, or superintendence of anything one who saves from harm; a defender; a preserver.
4. n. One who remains or keeps in a place or position.
5. n. A ring, strap, clamp, or any device for holding an object in place
6. n. The box on a door jamb into which the bolt of a lock protrudes, when shot.
7. n. A ring serving to keep another ring on the finger.
8. n. A loop near the buckle of a strap to receive the end of the strap.
9. n. A fruit that keeps well. Anything perishable that remains in good condition longer than usual.
10. n. An iron bar that is placed on the poles of a horseshoe magnet, and held in place there by the magnetic force, to preserve the strength of the magnet when not in use.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. someone in charge of other people
2. n. one having charge of buildings or grounds or animals