ward

plural wards

1. archaicobsoleteA warden; a guard; a guardian or watchman.

   there is remuneration for the best ward of mine

   c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]

   3 more examples

   th'aſſieged Caſtles ward Their ſtedfaſt ſtonds did mightily maintaine

   1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 15

   no gate they found, them to withhold, Nor ward to wait at morne and euening late […].

   1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto XI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC

   For want of other ward, He lifted up his hand, his front to guard.

   1717, John Dryden [et al.], “(please specify |book=I to XV)”, in Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC

plural wards · alternative obsolete warde

1. Protection, defence.
   1. countableuncountableThe action of a watchman; monitoring, surveillance (usually in phrases keep ward etc.)

      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[…]

      1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC

   2. countableuncountableGuardianship, especially of a child or prisoner.

      I must attend his majesty's command, to whom I am now in ward.

      c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]

      2 more examples

      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.

      1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte d'Arthur, Book V

      It is also inconvenient, in Ireland, that the wards and marriages of gentlemen's children should be in the disposal of any of those lords.

      1596 (date written; published 1633), Edmund Spenser, A Vewe of the Present State of Irelande […], Dublin: […] Societie of Stationers, […], →OCLC; republished as A View of the State of Ireland […] (Ancient Irish Histories), Dublin: […] Society of Stationers, […] Hibernia Press, […] [b]y John Morrison, 1809, →OCLC

   3. countableuncountablefantasyAn enchantment or spell placed over a designated area or social unit, that prevents any trespasser from entering; approaching; or even being able to locate said protected premises or demographic.

      He need not have worried. For his wards were, as he had boasted, impervious to almost any power in the universe tonight. As he approached the royal bed, he was able to discern the faint protective aura still glowing around his young lord.

      1970, Katherine Kurtz, chapter 7, in Deryni Rising

   4. countableuncountablefencingA guarding or defensive motion or position.

      Thou knowest my old ward; here I lay, and thus I bore my point.

      c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iv]

   5. countablehistoricaluncountableScots lawLand tenure through military service.
2. A protected place, and by extension, a type of subdivision.
   1. countableuncountableAn area of a castle, corresponding to a circuit of the walls.

      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.

      2000 August 8, George R[aymond] R[ichard] Martin, “Sansa [Stark]”, in A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire; 3), London: Voyager, →ISBN, page 63

      1 more example

      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[…].

      1942, Rebecca West, Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, Canongate, published 2006, page 149

   2. countableuncountableA section or subdivision of a prison.
   3. countableuncountableAn 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.

      5 more examples

      The sayde Iohn Mansell chargyd the mayre, that euery Alderman in hys warde shulde vppon the morowe folowyng assemble hys wardemote, [etc.].

      a. 1513, Fabyan, Chron., published 1533, § vii, page 28b

      […] within v wardes of the same Towne which byn conteyned in seuerall partes in the same Towne ther hath byn v Cunstables that is to say in euery ward oon for the conseruacion of the kynges Peace and other good Rule […]

      1518, “Abbot of Peterborough v. Power and others”, in Isaac Saunders Leadam, editor, Select Cases before the King’s Council in the Star Chamber, commonly called The Court of Star Chamber (Selden Society), volume II: A.D. 1509–1544, London: Bernard Quaritch, published 1911, page 127

      There is also The Wardmote Enquest, Chosen euery St. Thomas day, in euery ward a quest.

      1588, W. Smith, Brief Descr. Lond. (MS. Harl. 6363), leaf 13

      We meete at the Guildehall and there determine That thorow euery warde the watche be clad In armour.

      c. 1590, Anthony Munday, Henry Chettle, edited by Thomas Heywood, Thomas Dekker, and William Shakespeare, Sir Thomas More, Act II, scene iv, line 226

      The Auncient diuision of this Cittie, was into Wardes or Aldermanries: and therefore I will beginne at the East, and so proceede thorough the high and most principall streete of the cittie to the west after this manner.

      1598–1603, John Stow, edited by Charles Lethbridge Kingsford, A Survey of London […] : Reprinted from the text of 1603, volume I, Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, published 1908, page 117

   4. UKcountableuncountableA division of a forest.
   5. MormonismcountableuncountableA subdivision of the LDS Church, smaller than and part of a stake, but larger than a branch.
   6. countableuncountableA part of a hospital, with beds, where patients reside.

      Since sick people were apt to be present, he could not always depend on a lively young crowd in the same ward with him, and the entertainment was not always good.

      1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “The Soldier in White”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC, page 168

      1 more example

      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.

      2011 December 16, Denis Campbell, “Hospital staff 'lack skills to cope with dementia patients'”, in Guardian

3. A person under guardianship.
   1. countableuncountableA minor looked after by a guardian.

      After the trial, little Robert was declared a ward of the state.

      1 more example

      Not unnaturally, “Auntie” took this communication in bad part. Thus outraged, she showed herself to be a bold as well as a furious virago. Next day she found her way to their lodgings and tried to recover her ward by the hair of the head.

      1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC

   2. countableobsoleteuncountableAn underage orphan.
4. countableuncountableAn object used for guarding.
   1. countableuncountableThe ridges on the inside of a lock, or the incisions on a key.

      1852–1854, Charles Tomlinson, Cyclopaedia of Useful Arts and Manufactures The lock is made […] 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.

      2 more examples

      A man muſt thorowly ſound himſelfe, and dive into his heart, and there ſee by what wards or ſprings the motions ſtirre.

      , II.1

      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.

      1893, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Resident Patient, Norton, published 2005, page 628

present singular third person wards · participle present warding · participle past warded · past warded

1. transitiveTo keep in safety, to watch over, to guard.

   Whoſe gates he found faſt ſhut, ne liuing wight To ward the ſame, nor anſwere commers call

   1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 3

2. transitiveTo defend, to protect.

   Tell him it was a hand that warded him From a thousand dangers.

   c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]

   1 more example

   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.

   1603, Michel de Montaigne, translated by John Florio, Essays, II.3

3. transitiveTo fend off, to repel, to turn aside, as anything mischievous that approaches. (usually followed by off)

   The pointed javelin warded off his rage.

   1717, Joseph Addison, Metamorphoses

   3 more examples

   Draw forth thy ſword, thou mightie man at armes, Intending but to raiſe my charmed ſkin: And Ioue himſelfe will ſtretch his hand from heauen, To ward the blow, and ſhield me ſafe from harme, […]

   c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii

   Now wards a felling blow, now strikes again.

   1609, Samuel Daniel, The Civile Wares

   It instructs the scholar in the various methods of warding off the force of objections.

   1741, I[saac] Watts, The Improvement of the Mind: Or, A Supplement to the Art of Logick: […], London: […] James Brackstone, […], →OCLC

   Synonyms: ward off

4. intransitiveTo be vigilant; to keep guard.

   They for vs fight, they watch and dewly ward, And their bright Squadrons round about vs plant […]

   1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC

   1 more example

   Having slapped into middle age, where thoughts of one’s general infallibility are tempered by the realisation that those creaky, achy complaints are signs of certain decrepitude, I have decided to ward against further gravitational decline by hauling my saggy, sorry self to the gym.

   2017 November 16, Jo Ellison, “Help: the gym has turned us into slobs”, in Financial Times

5. intransitiveTo act on the defensive with a weapon.

plural Wards

1. countableAn English surname originating as an occupation for a guard or watchman.
2. countableAn English male given name.
3. A placename
   1. countableuncountableA parish of Castleknock, Fingal, Ireland.
   2. countableuncountableA river in Ireland; in full, Ward River.
   3. countableuncountableA small town in Marlborough, South Island, New Zealand, named after Joseph Ward.
   4. abbreviationcountableellipsisuncountableEllipsis of Ward Beach: a coastline in Marlborough, South Island, New Zealand.
   5. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community in Sumter County, Alabama.
   6. countableuncountableA city in Lonoke County, Arkansas.
   7. countableuncountableA town in Boulder County, Colorado.
   8. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community in Jackson Township, Boone County, Indiana.
   9. countableuncountableA township in Randolph County, Indiana.
   10. countableuncountableA township in Todd County, Minnesota.
   11. countableuncountableA town in Allegany County, New York.
   12. countableuncountableA township in Hocking County, Ohio.
   13. countableuncountableA township in Tioga County, Pennsylvania.
   14. countableuncountableA town in Saluda County, South Carolina.
   15. countableuncountableA town in Moody County, South Dakota.
   16. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community in Stevens County, Washington.
   17. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community and coal town in Kanawha County, West Virginia.
   18. abbreviationcountableellipsisuncountableEllipsis of Ward County.

plural Wards

1. abbreviationclippingClipping of Edward (a corruption of the name Edward).
2. abbreviationclippingClipping of Howard.