ward /wörd/

1. To parry or keep away (now usu ward off)
2. To watch over, guard (archaic)
3. To protect (with from; archaic)
4. To enclose (eg machinery) in order to prevent accidents (rare)
5. To place in a ward

To act on the defensive

1. A room with several beds in a hospital, etc
2. The patients in a ward collectively
3. A division or department of a prison
4. The activity or a spell of watching or guarding
5. The state of being guarded
6. A lookout or watch
7. Care, protection
8. Guardianship
9. Custody
10. (in feudal times) control of the lands of a minor
11. A minor or other person under a guardian
12. A body of guards
13. A guarded place, eg a courtyard of a castle (inner and outer ward)
14. A means of protection, such as a bolt or bar
15. A part of a lock of special configuration to prevent its being turned by any except a particular key, or the part of the key of corresponding configuration
16. A defensive motion or position (fencing; also figurative)
17. A division of a county (Scot and N Eng)
18. An administrative, electoral or other division of a town, etc
19. A division of an army (obsolete; as in van(t)ward (vanguard), middle ward and rearward (rearguard))

wardˈed adjective

(of a lock or key) having a ward or wards

wardˈer noun

1. Someone who guards or supervises
2. A prison officer in charge of prisoners in a jail
3. A staff or baton of authority (historical)

To guard as a warder

wardˈing noun and adjective

warˈdress noun

A female prison officer

wardˈship noun

1. The office of, or the state of being under, a guardian
2. Protection, custody (figurative)
3. The state of being in guardianship (figurative)
4. In English feudal law, the guardianship that the feudal lord had of the land of his vassal while the latter was a minor

wardˈcorn noun (historical)

1. A payment in corn in lieu of military service
2. Misunderstood as the duty of keeping watch in order to give the alarm by blowing a horn

ward in Chancery noun (historical)

A minor under the protection of the Court of Chancery

wardˈmote noun

A meeting of a ward, or of a court of a ward

ward of court noun

A minor or other person not of full legal capacity who has been placed under the protection of a court

wardˈroom noun

1. The mess room of the officers of a warship
2. The officers collectively

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