upkeep

up +‎ keep

upkeep (usually uncountable, plural upkeeps)

1. Maintenance; the act or effort of keeping something in good and working condition.

   I would enjoy having a swimming pool, but I don't want to deal with the upkeep.

   • 1945 August 17, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter 6, in Animal Farm: A Fairy Story, London: Secker & Warburg, OCLC 3655473:

     […] it was unnecessary to fence off pasture from arable land, which saved a lot of labour on the upkeep of hedges and gates.

upkeep (third-person singular simple present upkeeps, present participle upkeeping, simple past and past participle upkept)

1. (transitive, Britain) To maintain (something) or keep it in good repair.
   • 2014, James Blackthorne, Meditations of Madness: The Lost Empires Exposed

     As for the city's buildings, it mostly resembled a town of white spires and cobblestone streets lined with flowerbeds that were upkept by magical means.

   Do you know how to upkeep a boat?

• keep up