ward

See also Ward, and -ward

English

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Middle English ward, from Old English weard (“keeper, watchman, guard, guardian, protector; lord, king; possessor”), from Proto-Germanic *warduz (“guard, keeper”), from Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to heed, defend”). Cognate with German Wart.

Noun

ward (plural wards)

  1. (archaic or obsolete) A guard; a guardian or watchman.
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.xi:
      no gate they found, them to withhold, / Nor ward to wait at morne and euening late [...].

Etymology 2

From Middle English ward, warde, from Old English weard (“watching, ward, protection, guardianship; advance post; waiting for, lurking, ambuscade”), from Proto-Germanic *wardō (“protection, attention, keeping”), an extension of Germanic stem *wara- "attentive" (English wary, beware), from Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to cover”). Cognate with German Warte (“watchtower”), warten (“wait for”); English guard is a parallel form which came via Old French.

Noun

ward (plural wards)

  1. Protection, defence.
    1. (obsolete) A guard or watchman; now replaced by warden.
    2. The action of a watchman; monitoring, surveillance (usually in phrases keep ward etc.).
      • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.vii:
        Before the dore sat selfe-consuming Care, / Day and night keeping wary watch and ward, / For feare least Force or Fraud should vnaware / Breake in [...].
    3. Guardianship, especially of a child or prisoner.
      • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book V:
        So forth the presoners were brought before Arthure, and he commaunded hem into kepyng of the conestabyls warde, surely to be kepte as noble presoners.
    4. An enchantment or spell placed over a designated area, or a social unit, that prevents any tresspasser from entering, approaching and/or even from being able to locate said-protected premises
    5. (historical, Scots law) Land tenure through military service.
    6. (fencing) A guarding or defensive motion or position.
  2. A protected place.
    1. (archaic) An area of a castle, corresponding to a circuit of the walls.
      • 1942, Rebecca West, Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, Canongate 2006, page 149:
        Diocletian [...] must certainly have derived some consolation from the grandeur of Aspalaton, the great arcaded wall it turned to the Adriatic, its four separate wards, each town size, and its seventeen watch-towers...
      • 2000, George RR Martin, A Storm of Swords, Bantam 2011, p. 78:
        With the castle so crowded, the outer ward had been given over to guests to raise their tents and pavilions, leaving only the smaller inner yards for training.
    2. A section or subdivision of a prison.
    3. An administrative division of a borough, city or council.
      On our last visit to Tokyo, we went to Chiyoda ward and visited the Emperor's palace.
    4. (Mormonism) A subdivision of the LDS Church, smaller than and part of a stake, but larger than a branch.
    5. A room in a hospital where patients reside.
      • 2011 December 16, Denis Campbell, “Hospital staff 'lack skills to cope with dementia patients'”, Guardian:
        Many hospitals have not taken simple steps to lessen the distress and confusion which dementia sufferers' often feel on being somewhere so unfamiliar – such as making signs large and easy to read, using colour schemes to help patients find their way around unfamiliar wards and not putting family mementoes such as photographs nearby.
  3. A person under guardianship.
    1. A minor looked after by a guardian.
      After the trial, little Robert was declared a ward of the state.
    2. (obsolete) An underage orphan.
  4. An object used for guarding.
    1. The ridges on the inside of a lock, or the incisions on a key.
      • 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essays, II.1:
        A man must thorowly sound himselfe, and dive into his heart, and there see by what wards or springs the motions stirre.
      • 1893, Arthur Conan Doyle, ‘The Resident Patient’, Norton 2005, page 628:
        With the help of a wire, however, they forced round the key. Even without the lens you will perceive, by the scratches on this ward, where the pressure was applied.
Translations
action of a watchman
person under guardianship
fencing term
area of a castle
section of a prison
administrative subdivision of cities
Mormonism: subdivision of church
hospital room
minor looked after by a guardian
on a lock or key

Etymology 3

From Middle English warden, from Old English weardian (“to watch, guard, keep, protect, preserve; hold, possess, occupy, inhabit; rule, govern”), from Proto-Germanic *wardōną (“to guard”), from Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to heed, defend”).

Verb

ward (third-person singular simple present wards, present participle warding, simple past and past participle warded)

  1. (transitive) To keep in safety, to watch over, to guard.
  2. (transitive) To defend, to protect.
    • 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essays, II.3:
      they went to seeke their owne death, and rushed amidst the thickest of their enemies, with an intention, rather to strike, than to ward themselves.
  3. (transitive) To fend off, to repel, to turn aside, as anything mischievous that approaches; -- usually followed by off.
  4. (intransitive) To be vigilant; to keep guard.
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.viii:
      They for vs fight, they watch and dewly ward, / And their bright Squadrons round about vs plant [...].
  5. (intransitive) To act on the defensive with a weapon.
Synonyms
Translations
To keep in safety; to watch; to guard
To defend; to protect
To fend off; to repel; to turn aside
To be vigilant; to keep guard
To act on the defensive with a weapon

Anagrams

See also

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German

Alternative forms

Verb

ward

  1. (archaic) First-person singular indicative past form of werden.
  2. (archaic) Third-person singular indicative past form of werden.
    Und Gott sprach: »Es werde Licht!« Und es ward Licht. [1]
    And God said: "Let there be light." And there was light.
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Last modified on 13 May 2013, at 01:32