# ward

Pronunciation: US say "WORD" /wɔɹd/; UK say "WAWD" /wɔːd/

## Noun

1. One of the administrative districts into which a city, borough, or council area is divided.
   - Simple: One of the parts a city is divided into for voting and local government.
   - _The alderman has represented the city's third ward for over a decade._
   - _Census results forced the council to redraw several ward boundaries._
2. A separate room or section of a hospital where patients stay, or a similar section of a prison.
   - Simple: A room or part of a hospital with beds for sick people, or a part of a prison.
   - _Visitors must sign in before entering the maternity ward._
   - _The ward was full, so new patients had to wait in the emergency room._
4. A person placed under the legal care and protection of a guardian, a court, or the state.
   - Simple: Someone that a guardian, a court, or the government is legally responsible for looking after.
   - _The court named her sister as guardian, making the injured woman a ward until she could handle her own affairs._
   - _As his dementia worsened, Grandpa became a legal ward of my aunt, who now manages his money._
5. A spell, charm, or other object believed to protect a place or person from harm or intrusion.
   - Simple: A magic spell or object meant to keep danger or enemies away.
   - _The sorcerer renewed the ward each night to keep the tower hidden from searching eyes._
   - _Anyone who stepped past the boundary stone triggered the wards and was hurled back._
11. An area within a castle enclosed by a circuit of its walls.
   - Simple: An area of a castle that lies inside one ring of the castle's walls.
   - _Attackers who broke through the gate found themselves trapped in the outer ward._
   - _Stables and workshops once lined the castle's middle ward._

## Verb

3. To turn aside or keep away something harmful or threatening, such as a blow, an illness, or danger; usually with 'off'.
   - Simple: To stop something bad from hurting you or coming near you, as in 'ward off a cold'.
   - _He raised his shield to ward off the blow._
   - _Farmers hung reflective tape in the orchard, warding off hungry birds._
6. To guard or protect someone or something from harm.
   - Simple: To keep someone or something safe from danger.
   - _Charms were hung above the door to ward the household from evil._
   - _A line of cedars wards the farmhouse from the prairie wind._
8. To be on the alert and keep guard, watching for danger or intrusion.
   - Simple: To stay awake and watch carefully so you can guard against danger.

## Noun

7. Guardianship or custody, especially of a child or a prisoner. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: The care and protection of someone, especially a child or a prisoner.
9. The action of keeping watch or guard over a place or person; vigilant monitoring or surveillance. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: The work of keeping watch and guarding a place or its people.
   - _By the king's order, the garrison kept ward on the border through the winter._
   - _Watch and ward was maintained along the coast whenever invasion threatened._
10. A warden, guard, or watchman; one charged with guarding a place or keeping watch. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A guard or watchman who protects a place or its people.

## Other meanings

- (noun) A local subdivision of the LDS Church, forming part of a stake and larger than a branch.
- (noun) The fixed ridges inside a lock that block a wrong key from turning, or the matching incisions cut into a key to clear them.
- (noun) A guarding motion or position taken to defend against an attack.
- (noun) A division of a forest; one of the administrative sections into which a large forest, especially a royal forest in Britain, is divided.
- (noun) In Scots law, a form of land tenure in which land was held from a superior in return for military service.

## Origin

**Meaning 10** — Proto-Indo-European *wer- ("to heed, defend") gave Proto-Germanic *wardaz ("guard, keeper"), then Old English weard, meaning a keeper, watchman, guard, guardian, or protector, and also a lord or king, and finally Middle English ward. Dutch waard and German Wart are related.
**Meanings 1–2, 4–5, 7, 9, 11** — Proto-Indo-European *wer- ("to heed, be watchful") gave the Proto-Germanic stem *wara- ("attentive"), seen in wary and beware, which was extended to *wardō ("protection, attention, keeping"). From this came Old English weard, which meant watching, ward, protection, or guardianship, and also an advance post or an ambush, and then Middle English ward. German Warte ("watchtower") and warten ("wait for") are related, and English guard is a parallel form that arrived through Old French.
**Meanings 3, 6, 8** — Proto-Indo-European *wer- ("to heed, defend") is the source of Proto-Germanic *wardōną ("to guard"), which gave Old English weardian, meaning to watch, guard, keep, or protect, to hold, possess, or occupy, and to rule or govern. That verb became Middle English warden. Guard is a doublet.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/ward (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).