4 entries under this word
[A-S. -weard, -weardes, O. Sax. & O. Fries. ward, O. H. Ger. wart, wert, N. H. Ger. wärts, D. waarts, Goth. wairths, allied to Lat. vertere, to turn, versus, toward.] An affix used in the composition of a large class of words, and denoting direction or tendency to, motion toward, and the like; as, in upward.
v. t. [imp. & p. p. WARDED; p. pr. & vb. n. WARDING.] [A-S. weardian, to keep, protect, allied to werian, werigan, to defend; O. Sax. wardōn, O. Fries. wardia, Sw. vårda, O. H. Ger. warten, gawarten, M. & N. H. Ger. warten, O. Fr. warder, garder, guarder, N. Fr. garder, Pr., Sp., & Pg. guardar, It. guardare.]
Sense 1. To keep in safety; to watch; to guard. Whose gates be found fast shut, no living wight To ward the same. Spenser.
Sense 2. To defend; to protect. Tell him it was a hand that warded him From thousand dangers. Shak.
Sense 3. To defend by walls, fortifications, or the like; to fortify. [Obs.]
Sense 4. To fend off; to repel; to turn aside, as any thing mischievous that approaches;—usually followed by off. “Now wards a falling blow, now strikes again.” Daniel. The pointed javelin warded off his rage. Addison. It instructs the scholar in the various methods of warding off the force of objections. Watts.
Sense 1. To be vigilant; to keep guard. [Obs.] 2. To act on the defensive with a weapon. She drove the stranger to no other shift than to ward and go back. Sidney.
n. [A-S. weard, f., guard, weard, m., keeper, guard, Goth. wardja, wards, guard, O. Sax. ward, wardō, O. H. Ger. wardo, m., warta, f., M. & N. H. Ger. wart, warte, O. Fr. warde, garde, guarde, m. & f., Pr. & Sp. guarda, f., Sp. & It. guardia, f. See supra.]
Sense 1. The act of guarding; watch; guard; guardianship.
Still, when she slept, he kept both watch and ward. Spenser.
This word was formerly used in distinction from watch, to denote a guarding or watching by day, the latter signifying a watching by night. [See Note under WATCH.]
Sense 2. One whose business is to guard, watch, and defend.
Sense 3. The state of being under guard or guardianship; custody; confinement under guard; the condition of a child under a guardian.
And he put them in ward in the house of the captain of the guard. Gen. xl. 3.
I must attend his majesty’s commands, to whom I am now in ward. Shak.
It is inconvenient, in Ireland, that the wards and marriages of gentlemen’s children should be in the disposal of any of those lords. Spenser.
Sense 4. Means of guarding; one who, or that which, guards; defense; protection; garrison; defender; protector. “For the best ward of my honor.” Shak.
The assieged castle’s ward Their steadfast stands did mightily maintain. Spenser.
For want of other ward, He lifted up his hand his front to guard. Dryden.
Sense 5. Hence, a guarding or defensive motion or position in fencing.
Thou knowest my old ward; here I lay, and thus I bore my point. Shak.
Sense 6. One who, or that which, is guarded; as, specifically, (a.) A minor or person under the care of a guardian; as, a ward in chancery.
You know our father’s ward, The fair Monimia. Otway.
(b.) A certain division, district, or quarter, of a town or city, under the charge of an alderman.
Throughout the trembling city placed a guard, Dealing an equal share to every ward. Dryden.
(c.) A division of a forest. (d.) A division of a hospital; as, a fever-ward.
Sense 7. A projecting ridge of metal in the interior of a lock, to prevent the use of any key which has not a corresponding notch for passing it.
The lock is made a little more secure by attaching wards to the front, as well as to the back, plate of the lock, in which case the key must be furnished with corresponding notches. Tomlinson.