Word.ws English Dictionary

keep the lights on

keep the lights on verb: to maintain operating expenses for a business.

Verb

keep the lights on (third-person singular simple present keeps the lights on, present participle keeping the lights on, simple past and past participle kept the lights on)

  1. To maintain operating expenses for a business.

Forms of keep the lights on

third-person singular presentkeeps the lights on
present participlekeeping the lights on
past participlekept the lights on
pastkept the lights on

Questions about keep the lights on

What does keep the lights on mean?
Keep the lights on means to maintain operating expenses for a business.
What part of speech is keep the lights on?
Keep the lights on is a verb.
What is the past tense of keep the lights on?
The past tense of keep the lights on is kept the lights on.

Words near keep the lights on in the dictionary

  1. keep the change
  2. keep the faith
  3. keep the field
  4. keep the flag flying
  5. keep the home fires burning
  6. keep the lights on
  7. keep the pace
  8. keep the peace
  9. keep the pot boiling
  10. keep the powder dry
  11. keep the rent down

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: keep the lights on (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-keep the lights on.oga.

Cite this entry: “keep the lights on.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/keep_the_lights_on. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.