v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Warded; p. pr. & vb. n. Warding. ] [ OE. wardien, AS. weardian to keep, protect; akin to OS. ward&unr_;n to watch, take care, OFries. wardia, OHG. wart&unr_;n, G. warten to wait, wait on, attend to, Icel. var&unr_;a to guarantee defend, Sw. vårda to guard, to watch; cf. OF. warder, of German origin. See Ward, n., and cf. Award, Guard, Reward. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. To keep in safety; to watch; to guard; formerly, in a specific sense, to guard during the day time. [ 1913 Webster ]

Whose gates he found fast shut, no living wight
To ward the same. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To defend; to protect. [ 1913 Webster ]

Tell him it was a hand that warded him
From thousand dangers. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To defend by walls, fortifications, etc. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To fend off; to repel; to turn aside, as anything mischievous that approaches; -- usually followed by off. [ 1913 Webster ]

Now wards a felling blow, now strikes again. Daniel. [ 1913 Webster ]

The pointed javelin warded off his rage. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

It instructs the scholar in the various methods of warding off the force of objections. I. Watts. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ 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, 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Still, when she slept, he kept both watch and ward. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. One who, or that which, guards; garrison; defender; protector; means of guarding; defense; protection. [ 1913 Webster ]

For the best ward of mine honor. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

The assieged castle's ward
Their steadfast stands did mightily maintain. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

For want of other ward,
He lifted up his hand, his front to guard. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The state of being under guard or guardianship; confinement under guard; the condition of a child under a guardian; custody. [ 1913 Webster ]

And he put them in ward in the house of the captain of the guard. Gen. xl. 3. [ 1913 Webster ]

I must attend his majesty's command, to whom I am now in ward. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. One who, or that which, is guarded. Specifically: -- [ 1913 Webster ]

(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. [ 1913 Webster ]

(b) A division of a county. [ Eng. & Scot. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

(c) A division, district, or quarter of a town or city. [ 1913 Webster ]

Throughout the trembling city placed a guard,
Dealing an equal share to every ward. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

(d) A division of a forest. [ Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

(e) A division of a hospital; as, a fever ward. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ 1913 Webster ]

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. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To be vigilant; to keep guard. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To act on the defensive with a weapon. [ 1913 Webster ]

She redoubling her blows drove the stranger to no other shift than to ward and go back. Sir P. Sidney. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Ward + F. corne horn, L. cornu. ] (O. Eng. Law) The duty of keeping watch and ward (see the Note under Watch, n., 1) with a horn to be blown upon any occasion of surprise. Burrill. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Wars + corps. ] Guardian; one set to watch over another. [ Obs. ] “Though thou preyedest Argus . . . to be my wardcorps.” Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. wardein, OF. wardein, gardein, gardain, F. gardien. See Guardian, and Ward guard. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. A keeper; a guardian; a watchman. [ 1913 Webster ]

He called to the warden on the . . . battlements. Sir. W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An officer who keeps or guards; a keeper; as, the warden of a prison. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A head official; as, the warden of a college; specifically (Eccl.), a churchwarden. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. [ Properly, a keeping pear. ] A large, hard pear, chiefly used for baking and roasting. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

I would have had him roasted like a warden. Beau. & Fl. [ 1913 Webster ]

Warden pie, a pie made of warden pears. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. The office or jurisdiction of a warden. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who wards or keeps; a keeper; a guard. “The warders of the gate.” Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A truncheon or staff carried by a king or a commander in chief, and used in signaling his will. [ 1913 Webster ]

When, lo! the king suddenly changed his mind,
Casts down his warder to arrest them there. Daniel. [ 1913 Webster ]

Wafting his warder thrice about his head,
He cast it up with his auspicious hand,
Which was the signal, through the English spread,
This they should charge. Drayton. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Designating, or pertaining to, a kind of glass inclosure for keeping ferns, mosses, etc., or for transporting growing plants from a distance; as, a Wardian case of plants; -- so named from the inventor, Nathaniel B. Ward, an Englishman. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Anciently, a meeting of the inhabitants of a ward; also, a court formerly held in each ward of London for trying defaults in matters relating to the watch, police, and the like. Brande & C. “Wards and wardmotes.” Piers Plowman. [ 1913 Webster ]