warden
/ˈwɔːd(ə)n
/noun
1A person responsible for the supervision of a particular place or activity or for enforcing the regulations associated with it: the warden of a nature reserve an air-raid warden...
- Police in the county now employ around 115 wardens to enforce traffic regulations along with officers, with fines going to central government funds.
- Each borough council in Lancashire, in conjunction with the county council, has adopted Parkwise and employed dozens of parking wardens to enforce regulations in streets and on car parks.
- At the end of October the wardens started to strictly enforce the regulations throughout the district.
Synonyms
superintendent, supervisor, steward, overseer, caretaker, janitor, porter, custodian, watchman, concierge, doorman
ranger, custodian, keeper, guardian, protector, preserver, curator
1.1British The head of certain schools, colleges, or other institutions: the Warden of All Souls College, Oxford...
- Professor Jessica Rawson, warden of Merton College, said no able student should be deterred from applying to Oxford by financial concerns.
- Alan Ryan is a warden at New College, Oxford University.
- There has been a letter from the warden of Morley College blaming Moloko's for distress to their residents.
Synonyms
principal, head, governor, master, mistress, rector, provost, president, chief, director, chancellor, vice chancellor
North American informal prexy, prex
1.2A prison officer: securely handcuffed to a warden, he was taken to Wandsworth Prison...
- He held baby son Ben only once, handcuffed to prison wardens and given no time alone, before Ben died.
- After leaving the military Kerik worked for a private security firm in Saudi Arabia and served as a prison warden in New Jersey in 1986.
- Also making the garden safer, 24/7 Security Services provides security and has donated batons and handcuffs for wardens.
Synonyms
prison officer, guard, jailer, (prison) warder, (prison) wardress, keeper, sentry, captor
informal screw
1.3chiefly North American A prison governor.The prison warden in this case will undoubtedly ask the Supreme Court to review this case....
- Legend has it that wardens of some federal prisons kept a picture of Alcatraz in their offices as a warning to troublesome inmates of the price of misbehavior.
- While other prison wardens are accountable to courts of law for abuses they perpetrate, security forces are not.
Derivatives
wardenship
- Gaunt's appointment led to a breach, from which Northumberland emerged as sole warden in both marches in 1384, after which either he or his son usually held one of the wardenships.
- Following Dacre's death in 1563, Elizabeth alternated the wardenships between lesser nobles like Lords Scrope and Eure or southerners like the earl of Bedford or Lord Hunsdon.
- William Brooke died in March 1597, and Henry finally succeeded to the wardenship in September.
Origin
Middle English (originally denoting a guardian or protector): from Anglo-Norman French and Old Northern French wardein, variant of Old French guarden 'guardian'.
Rhymes
- smoke alarm
- smoke and mirrors
- smoke ball
- smoke bomb
- smokebox
- smoke bush
- smoke concert
- smoke-dry
- smokeeasy
- smoke-filled
- smoke-filled rooms
- smoke-free
- smoke-ho
- smokehouse
- smokejumper
- smokeless
- smokeless tobacco
- smokeless zone
- smoke like a chimney
- smoke night
- smoker
- smoke ring
- smoke room
- smoker's cough
- smokescreen