ward
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /wɔːd/
ipa: /wɔɹd/
rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)d
Forms: form: wards
Etymology: From Middle English ward, warde, from Old English weard (“watching, ward, protection, guardianship; advance post; waiting for, lurking, ambuscade”), from Proto-West Germanic *wardu, from Proto-Germanic *wardō (“protection, attention, keeping”), an extension of the stem *wara- (“attentive”) (English wary, beware), from Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to cover”).
Cognate with German Warte (“watchtower”), warten (“wait for”); English guard is a parallel form which came via Old French.
Senses: examples: text: 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[…]
ref: 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
glosses: Protection, defence.
The action of a watchman; monitoring, surveillance (usually in phrases keep ward etc.)
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte d'Arthur, Book V:
text: I must attend his majesty's command, to whom I am now in ward.
ref: 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]:
text: 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.
ref: 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:
glosses: Protection, defence.
Guardianship, especially of a child or prisoner.
topics: fantasy
glosses: Protection, defence.
An enchantment or spell placed over a designated area or social unit, that prevents any tresspasser from entering; approaching; or even being able to locate said protected premises or demographic.
examples: text: Thou knowest my old ward; here I lay, and thus I bore my point.
ref: 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]:
topics: fencing
government
hobbies
lifestyle
martial-arts
military
politics
sports
war
glosses: Protection, defence.
A guarding or defensive motion or position.
glosses: Protection, defence.
Land tenure through military service.
qualifier: Scots law
examples: text: 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[…].
ref: 1942, Rebecca West, Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, Canongate, published 2006, page 149:
text: 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.
ref: 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:
glosses: A protected place, and by extension, a type of subdivision.
An area of a castle, corresponding to a circuit of the walls.
glosses: A protected place, and by extension, a type of subdivision.
A section or subdivision of a prison.
examples: text: On our last visit to Tokyo, we went to Chiyoda ward and visited the Emperor's palace.
text: Throughout the trembling city placed a guard,
Dealing an equal share to every ward.
ref: 1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis, John Dryden, transl., “[The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis.] The Eighth Satyr”, in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. […] Together with the Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC:
glosses: A protected place, and by extension, a type of subdivision.
An administrative division of a borough, city or council.
glosses: A protected place, and by extension, a type of subdivision.
A division of a forest.
glosses: A protected place, and by extension, a type of subdivision.
A subdivision of the LDS Church, smaller than and part of a stake, but larger than a branch.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “The Soldier in White”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC, page 168:
text: 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.
ref: 2011 December 16, Denis Campbell, “Hospital staff 'lack skills to cope with dementia patients'”, in Guardian:
glosses: A protected place, and by extension, a type of subdivision.
A part of a hospital, with beds, where patients reside.
examples: text: After the trial, little Robert was declared a ward of the state.
text: 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.
ref: 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
glosses: A person under guardianship.
A minor looked after by a guardian.
glosses: A person under guardianship.
An underage orphan.
glosses: An object used for guarding.
examples: text: A man muſt thorowly ſound himſelfe, and dive into his heart, and there ſee by what wards or ſprings the motions ſtirre.
ref: , II.1
text: 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.
text: 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.
ref: 1893, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Resident Patient, Norton, published 2005, page 628:
glosses: An object used for guarding.
The ridges on the inside of a lock, or the incisions on a key.
Derived terms: word: bridge-ward
word: casual ward
word: crown ward
word: hoard-ward
word: march-ward
word: maternity ward
word: Nightingale ward
word: psych ward
word: special ward
word: ward heeler
word: wardmote
word: ward moot
word: wardmoot
word: ward round
word: watch and ward
sense: part of a hospital where patients reside
word: convalescent ward
sense: part of a hospital where patients reside
word: critical ward
sense: part of a hospital where patients reside
word: psychiatric ward