What does Mark Twain mean by "keep hotel"? The protagonist in _A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court_ uses this phrase: > But that should be nothing to his discredit; the man that can do THIS kind of miracle knows enough to keep hotel. This led me to find another passage, this time in Twain's _Notebooks_ , containing the phrase: > It is an art apart. Saint Francis of Assisi said, "All saints can do miracles, but few of them can keep hotel." I still don't know what to make of it, though.

The Oxford English Dictionary has this definition for **to keep** :

> To carry on and manage, to conduct as one's own (an establishment or business, a school, shop, etc.).

This sense of the verb well predates Twain, dating back to Middle English.

Two common expressions of this form are **to keep house** and **to keep (a) shop**.

Therefore "keep hotel" simply means **run a hotel**.