warrant
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈwɒɹənt/
ipa: /ˈwɔɹənt/
ipa: /ˈwɑɹənt/
rhymes: -ɒɹənt
Forms: form: warrants
form: warranting
form: warranted
form: warranted
Etymology: The noun is derived from Middle English warant (“protector; guard, shield, protection”), from Anglo-Norman warrant, Old Northern French warant, warand, a variant of Old French guarant, garant, garand (“assurance, guarantee; authorization, permission; protector; protection, safety”) (modern French garant), from Frankish *warand, present participle of *warjan (“to fend off; to stop, thwart”). The word is cognate with Old High German werento (“guarantor”).
The verb is derived from Middle English warrant, waranten (“to give protection; to protect, shield; to assure, pledge, promise; to guarantee”), from Anglo-Norman warantir, warandir, warentir, and Old Northern French warandir, warantir, variant forms of Old French guarantir (“to protect”) (modern French garantir), a Romance formation from the noun guarant: see above.
Senses: examples: text: [A]ll honeſt meanes for a man to warrant him-ſelfe from euills, are not onely tolerable, but commendable.
ref: 1603, Michel de Montaigne, “Of Constancie”, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book I, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC, page 21:
text: I'le warrant him for drowning, though the Ship were no ſtronger then a Nutt-ſhell, and as leaky as an vnſtanched wench.
ref: 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], page 1:
text: A spell which will warrant its employer against all risk of being shot.
ref: 1911, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 3, page 306:
glosses: To protect, keep safe (from danger).
examples: text: Crato in a conſultation of his for a noble patient, tels him plainly, that if his Highneſſe will keepe but a good diet, hee will warrant him his former health.
ref: 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Diet Rectified in Substance”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 2, section 2, member 1, subsection 1, page 200:
text: The warranty that a ship shall sail on a given day must be strictly performed. Thus, if a ship, warranted to sail on or before a particular day, be prevented from sailing on that day by an embargo, the warranty is not complied with.
ref: 1855, [Isaac Ridler Butts], “[Marine Insurance.] Chapter II.”, in The Merchant’s, Shipmaster’s and Mate’s Manual, […], Boston, Mass.: Published by Isaac R. Butts, […], →OCLC, page 63:
text: One or two bottles are warranted to cure all humor in the eyes. Two bottles are warranted to cure running of the ears, and blotches among the hair.
ref: 1871, Donald Kennedy, “The Greatest Medical Discovery of the Age [advertisement]”, in Kennedy on Diseases of the Skin, 2nd edition, Roxbury, Mass.: Donald Kennedy, →OCLC:
glosses: To give (someone) an assurance or guarantee (of something); also, with a double object: to guarantee (someone something).
examples: text: Tuc[ca]. [...] Can thy Author doe it impudently enough? / Hiſt[rio]. O, I warrant you, Captaine: and ſpitefully inough too; he ha's one of the moſt ouerflowing villanous wits, in Rome. He will ſlander any man that breathes; If he diſguſt him. / Tucca. I'le know the poor, egregious, nitty Raſcall; and he haue ſuch commendable Qualities, I'le cheriſh him: [...]
ref: 1601, Ben Jonson, Poetaster or The Arraignment: […], London: […] [R. Bradock] for M[atthew] L[ownes] […], published 1602, →OCLC, Act III:
text: The chief mate of the Pequod was Starbuck, a native of Nantucket, and a Quaker by descent. [...] His pure tight skin was an excellent fit; and closely wrapped up in it, and embalmed with inner health and strength, like a revivified Egyptian, this Starbuck seemed prepared to endure for long ages to come, and to endure always, as now; for be it Polar snow or torrid sun, like a patent chronometer, his interior vitality was warranted to do well in all climates.
ref: 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “Knights and Squires”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 125:
text: Thus the red damask curtains which now shut out the fog-laden, drizzling atmosphere of the Marylebone Road, had cost a mere song, and yet they might have been warranted to last another thirty years. A great bargain also had been the excellent Axminster carpet which covered the floor; [...]
ref: 1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter I, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], →OCLC, page 2:
glosses: To guarantee (something) to be (of a specified quality, value, etc.).
examples: text: That tree is going to fall, I’ll warrant.
text: "I warrant you," said Chiffinch the female, nodding, but rather to her own figure reflected from a mirror, than to her politic husband, "I warrant you we will find means of occupying him that will sufficiently fill up his time."
ref: 1822, [Walter Scott], chapter V, in Peveril of the Peak. […], volume IV, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, pages 98–99:
glosses: To guarantee as being true; (colloquial) to believe strongly.
examples: text: I am warranted to search these premises fully.
text: [S]ince by our commission we are not warranted to treat but with the noblemen named by his majesty with the advice of the peers, and are particularly warranted to make exception against the earl of Traquair, for his malversation in the matter of the assembly and parliament, [...]
ref: 1852–1855, Thomas Wright, chapter XII, in The History of Scotland; from the Earliest Period to the Present Time, volume II, London; New York, N.Y.: Printed and published by the London Printing and Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 645, column 1:
glosses: To authorize; to give (someone) sanction or warrant (to do something).
examples: text: Circumstances arose that warranted the use of lethal force.
text: A strong pressure was brought by consumers to this end; but neither the combinations nor the independent interests have felt that the pressure was sufficiently strong in warranting them in making a cut.
ref: 1903 September 23, “Notes from the United States”, in W[illiam] H[enry] Maw, J[ames] Dredge [Jr.], editors, Engineering: An Illustrated Weekly Journal, London: Offices for advertisements and publication—35 & 36, Bedford Street, Strand, W.C., published 2 October 1903, →OCLC, page 456, column 3:
text: The fact, however, that astonishment has been expressed at the clamor described, warrants a review of incidents which precipitated the events referred to.
ref: 1905 April 15, J. W. Midgley, “Private Cars. Why Private Car Lines were Overlooked—Thorough Investigation of Abuses Authorized. Circular Letter No. 38”, in The Railway and Engineering Review, volume XLV, number 15, Chicago, Ill.: Published [by Railway Review, Inc.] at 1305 Manhattan Building, →OCLC, page 265, column 3:
text: The tunnel, like the other engineering works on the line, was built to take two tracks, but traffic has never warranted a second.
ref: 1954 February, R. J. Sellick, “Railways to Chard”, in Railway Magazine, page 124:
text: My train arrives on time - an eight-car Class 387. A handful of passengers alight, but not too many board - certainly not enough to warrant eight cars.
ref: 2025 October 15, 'Mystery Shopper', “About Anglia... and high scores”, in RAIL, number 1046, page 53:
glosses: To justify; to give grounds for.
Derived terms: word: warranted