GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

last match results

Found 3 definitions 

  1.       

    Ward , 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
    
      
    
  2.       

    Ward , v. t. [imp. & p. p. Warded; p. pr. & vb. n. Warding.] [OE. wardien, AS. weardian to keep, protect; akin to OS. wardn to watch, take care, OFries. wardia, OHG. wartn, G. warten to wait, wait on, attend to, Icel. vara 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
    
      
    
  3.       

    Ward, 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

Last match results