Word: ward Part of Speech: noun 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. Pronunciation: /wɔːd/, /wɔɹd/ 1. Protection, defence. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: 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[…] 2. Protection, defence. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: 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. Example: I must attend his majesty's command, to whom I am now in ward. 3. Protection, defence. Labels: countable, uncountable 4. Protection, defence. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: Thou knowest my old ward; here I lay, and thus I bore my point. 5. Protection, defence. Labels: countable, historical, uncountable 6. A protected place, and by extension, a type of subdivision. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: 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[…]. Example: 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. 7. A protected place, and by extension, a type of subdivision. Labels: countable, uncountable 8. A protected place, and by extension, a type of subdivision. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: On our last visit to Tokyo, we went to Chiyoda ward and visited the Emperor’s palace. Example: The sayde Iohn Mansell chargyd the mayre, that euery Alderman in hys warde shulde vppon the morowe folowyng assemble hys wardemote, [etc.]. 9. A protected place, and by extension, a type of subdivision. Labels: UK, countable, uncountable 10. A protected place, and by extension, a type of subdivision. Labels: Mormonism, countable, uncountable 11. A protected place, and by extension, a type of subdivision. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: 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. Example: 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. 12. A person under guardianship. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: After the trial, little Robert was declared a ward of the state. Example: 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. 13. A person under guardianship. Labels: countable, obsolete, uncountable 14. An object used for guarding. Labels: countable, uncountable 15. An object used for guarding. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: A man muſt thorowly ſound himſelfe, and dive into his heart, and there ſee by what wards or ſprings the motions ſtirre. Example: 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.