gatekeep
A gatekeeper.
Noun
- A gatekeeper.
- 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. -...
- A gentleman stopped his horse at a toll-gate and not seeing the gatekeep went into the house. - 1969, Donald M. Hines, Dust Devils in the Great Desert:
- Though there was a moment of anxiety, a generous bribe persuaded the gatekeep to overlook their expired passports and they rode into Calais. - 1987, Maggie Osborne, Chase the Heart, page 278:
Origin
From gate + keep, as back-formation from gatekeeper.
Forms
Verb
- To control or limit access to something.
- To limit (sometimes manipulatively, rather than directly) how much of a role another party, often a spouse, has in some task.
- To limit another party's participation in a collective identity or an activity, usually due to undue pettiness, resentment, or overprotectiveness.