watch and ward

1. historicaluncountablelawThe charge or care of certain officers to keep a watch by night and a guard by day in towns, cities, and other districts, for the preservation of the public peace.
2. broadlyuncountableUninterrupted vigilance.

   1917, Lee Wilson Dodd, "To America" (poem), in Fifes and Drums You need A starker breed To cherish you and guard, Keep watch and ward, Or strike if strike they must!

   1 more example

   The narrow seas around these isles, where British admirals keep watch and ward upon the marches of the Atlantic Ocean, are subject to the turbulent sway of the West Wind.

   1904–1906, Joseph Conrad, chapter XXV, in The Mirror of the Sea, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers, published October 1906, →OCLC

present singular third person watches and wards · participle present watching and warding · participle past watched and warded · past watched and warded

1. To keep constant watch over

   we might have been carried in swift safety, and watched and warded by well-paid pointsmen, for half the present fares

   1894, John Ruskin, Munera Pulveris