Ward word meaning and definition

[noun] a division of a prison (usually consisting of several cells)
[noun] block forming a division of a hospital (or a suite of rooms) shared by patients who need a similar kind of care; "they put her in a 4-bed ward"
[noun] a district into which a city or town is divided for the purpose of administration and elections
[noun] a person who is under the protection or in the custody of another
[noun] United States businessman who in 1872 established a successful mail-order business (1843-1913)
[noun] English writer of novels who was an active opponent of the women's suffrage movement (1851-1920)
[noun] English economist and conservationist (1914-1981)
[verb] watch over or shield from danger or harm; protect; "guard my possessions while I'm away"

\-ward\ (w[~e]rd), -wards \-wards\ (w[~e]rdz). [AS. -weard, -weardes; akin to OS. & OFries. -ward. OHG. -wert, G. -w["a]rts, Icel. -ver[eth]r, Goth. -va['i]r[thorn]s, L. vertere to turn, versus toward, and E. worth to become. [root]143. See {Worth}. v. i., 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.
\Ward\, n. [AS. weard, fem., guard, weard, masc., keeper, guard; akin to OS. ward a watcher, warden, G. wart, OHG. wart, Icel. v["o]r[eth]r a warden, a watch, Goth. -wards in da['u]rawards a doorkeeper, and E. wary; cf. OF. warde guard, from the German. See {Ware}, a., {Wary}, and cf. {Guard}, {Wraith}.] 1. The act of guarding; watch; guard; guardianship; specifically, a guarding during the day. See the Note under {Watch}, n., 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\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Warded}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Warding}.] [OE. wardien, AS. weardian to keep, protect; akin to OS. ward?n to watch, take care, OFries. wardia, OHG. wart?n, G. warten to wait, wait on, attend to, Icel. var?a to guarantee defend, Sw. v[*a]rda to guard, to watch; cf. OF. warder, of German origin. See {Ward}, n., 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\, v. i. 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.

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