gatekeep
English
Etymology
gate + keep, as back-formation from gatekeeper.
Verb
gatekeep (third-person singular simple present gatekeeps, present participle gatekeeping, simple past and past participle gatekept)
- To control or limit access to something.
- (sociology) To limit (sometimes manipulatively, rather than directly) how much role another party, often a spouse, has in some task.
- (by extension, slang, Internet) To limit another party's participation in a collective identity or activity, usually due to undue resentment or overprotectiveness
Noun
gatekeep (plural gatekeeps)
- A gatekeeper.
- 1949, Laverne Gay, Wine of Ssatan a Novel of the First Crusade, page 129:
- Similar remarks had passed the cherry-stained lips a hundred times, and this one was brought on just after the gatekeep at the north postern of Bull Joy had slyly given the wink behind "her husband's" broad back.
- 1969, Donald M. Hines, Dust Devils in the Great Desert:
- A gentleman stopped his horse at a toll-gate and not seeing the gatekeep went into the house.
- 1987, Maggie Osborne, Chase the Heart, page 278:
- Though there was a moment of anxiety, a generous bribe persuaded the gatekeep to overlook their expired passports and they rode into Calais.
- 2017, Jeannie Troll, A Clever Girl:
- “At least those doxies don't fancy themselves the gatekeeps of God, like the priest.” Margit said.
-