ward noun[AS. weard, fem., guard, weard, masc., keeper, guard; akin to OS. ward a watcher, warden, G. wart, OHG. wart, Icel. vörðr a warden, a watch, Goth. -wards in daúrawards a doorkeeper, and E. wary; cf. OF. warde guard, from the German. See Ware, adjective, Wary, and cf. Guard, Wraith.]

ward (wẽrd)

wards (wẽrdz) }. [AS. -weard, -weardes; akin to OS. & OFries. -ward. OHG. -wert, G. -wärts, Icel. -verðr, Goth. -vaírþs, L. vertere to turn, versus toward, and E. worth to become. √143. See Worth. intransitive verb, and cf. Verse. Adverbs ending in -wards (AS. -weardes) and some other adverbs, such as besides, betimes, since (OE. sithens). etc., were originally genitive forms used adverbially.] Suffixes denoting course or direction to; motion or tendency toward; as in backward, or backwards; toward, or towards, etc.

-wards. See -ward. 1. The act of guarding; watch; guard; guardianship; specifically, a guarding during the day. See the Note under Watch, noun, 1.

Still, when she slept, he kept both watch and ward. Spenser.

2. One who, or that which, guards; garrison; defender; protector; means of guarding; defense; protection.

For the best ward of mine 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.

3. The state of being under guard or guardianship; confinement under guard; the condition of a child under a guardian; custody.

And he put them in ward in the house of the captain of the guard. Gen. xl. 3.

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

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. Spenser.

4. A guarding or defensive motion or position, as in fencing; guard.

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

5. One who, or that which, is guarded. 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 division of a county. [Eng. & Scot.]

(c) A division, district, or quarter of a town or city.

Throughout the trembling city placed a guard,
Dealing an equal share to every ward. Dryden.

(d) A division of a forest. [Eng.]

(e) A division of a hospital; as, a fever ward.

6. (a) 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.

(b) A notch or slit in a key corresponding to a ridge in the lock which it fits; a ward notch. Knight.

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. Tomlinson.

Ward penny (O. Eng. Law)

money paid to the sheriff or castellan for watching and warding a castle.

Ward staff

a constable's or watchman's staff. [Obs.]

Ward transitive verb [imperfect or past participle Warded; present participle or verbal noun Warding.] [OE. wardien, AS. weardian to keep, protect; akin to OS. warden to watch, take care, OFries. wardia, OHG. wart�n, G. warten to wait, wait on, attend to, Icel. varia to guarantee defend, Sw. vårda to guard, to watch; cf. OF. warder, of German origin. See Ward, noun, and cf. Award, Guard, Reward.]

1. To keep in safety; to watch; to guard; formerly, in a specific sense, to guard during the day time.

Whose gates he found fast shut, no living wight
To ward the same. Spenser.

2. To defend; to protect.

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

3. To defend by walls, fortifications, etc. [Obs.]

4. To fend off; to repel; to turn aside, as anything mischievous that approaches; – usually followed by off.

Now wards a felling 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. I. Watts.

Ward intransitive verb

1. To be vigilant; to keep guard.

2. To act on the defensive with a weapon.

She redoubling her blows drove the stranger to no other shift than to ward and go back. Sir P. Sidney.

-- Webster's unabridged 1913