warden

plural wardens

1. archaicliteraryA guard or watchman.

   He called to the wardens on the outside battlements.

   1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, chapter IV, in Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC

2. A chief administrative officer of a prison.

   The warden of the state prison, Ezekiel Purdy, was a kind man if stern. He invariably made all newcomers a little speech of welcome […]

   1934, Nathanael West, “Chapter 7”, in A Cool Million

3. An official charged with supervisory duties or with the enforcement of specific laws or regulations; such as a game warden or air-raid warden.
4. A governing official in various institutions

   the warden of a college

present singular third person wardens · participle present wardening · participle past wardened · past wardened

1. To carry out the duties of a warden.

plural wardens

1. A variety of pear.

   I must have saffron to colour the warden pies;

   c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]

   3 more examples

   Faith I would have had him rosted like a warden in a brown Paper, and no more talk on’t:

   c. 1607–1611, Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher, “Cupid’s Revenge”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1679, →OCLC, Act II, scene i

   In September, come Grapes; Apples; Poppies of all colours; Peaches; Melo-Cotones; Nectarines; Cornelians; Wardens; Quinces.

   1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Gardens”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC

   Wardens, a name given to pears which never melt, are long keeping, and used for cooking only. The name comes from the Cistercian Abbey of Warden in Beds. Parkinson’s Warden is now Black Worcester. There are Spanish, White and Red Wardens.

   1903, E. Bartrum, The Book of Pears and Plums, London: John Lane, page 30

1. A surname originating as an occupation for a warden.
2. A village and civil parish in south Northumberland, England (OS grid ref NY9166).