ward

English Online Dictionary. What means ward‎? What does ward mean?

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /wɔːd/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /wɔɹd/
• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)d

Etymology 1

From Middle English ward, from Old English weard (“keeper, watchman, guard, guardian, protector; lord, king; possessor”), from Proto-Germanic *warduz (“guard, keeper”), from Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to heed, defend”). Cognate with Dutch waard, German Wart.

Noun

ward (plural wards)

1. (archaic or obsolete) A warden; a guard; a guardian or watchman.

Etymology 2

From Middle English ward, warde, from Old English weard (“watching, ward, protection, guardianship; advance post; waiting for, lurking, ambuscade”), from Proto-West Germanic *wardu, from Proto-Germanic *wardō (“protection, attention, keeping”), an extension of the stem *wara- (“attentive”) (English wary, beware), from Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to cover”).

Cognate with German Warte (“watchtower”), warten (“wait for”); English guard is a parallel form which came via Old French.

Noun

ward (countable and uncountable, plural wards)

1. Protection, defence.
   1. The action of a watchman; monitoring, surveillance (usually in phrases keep ward etc.)
   2. Guardianship, especially of a child or prisoner.
   3. (fantasy) An enchantment or spell placed over a designated area or social unit, that prevents any tresspasser from entering; approaching; or even being able to locate said protected premises or demographic.
   4. (fencing) A guarding or defensive motion or position.
   5. (historical, Scots law) Land tenure through military service.
   6. (obsolete) A guard or watchman; now replaced by warden.
2. A protected place, and by extension, a type of subdivision.
   1. An area of a castle, corresponding to a circuit of the walls.
   2. A section or subdivision of a prison.
   3. An administrative division of a borough, city or council.
   4. (UK) A division of a forest.
   5. (Mormonism) A subdivision of the LDS Church, smaller than and part of a stake, but larger than a branch.
   6. A part of a hospital, with beds, where patients reside.
3. A person under guardianship.
   1. A minor looked after by a guardian.
   2. (obsolete) An underage orphan.
4. An object used for guarding.
   1. The ridges on the inside of a lock, or the incisions on a key.
      • , II.1:

        A man muſt thorowly ſound himſelfe, and dive into his heart, and there ſee by what wards or ſprings the motions ſtirre.

      • 1852–1854, Charles Tomlinson, Cyclopaedia of Useful Arts and Manufactures

        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.

Derived terms

• (part of a hospital where patients reside): convalescent ward, critical ward, psychiatric ward

Descendants

• → Swahili: wodi

Translations

Etymology 3

From Middle English warden, from Old English weardian (“to watch, guard, keep, protect, preserve; hold, possess, occupy, inhabit; rule, govern”), from Proto-West Germanic *wardēn, from Proto-Germanic *wardōną, *wardāną (“to guard”), from Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to heed, defend”). Doublet of guard.

Verb

ward (third-person singular simple present wards, present participle warding, simple past and past participle warded)

1. (transitive) To keep in safety, to watch over, to guard.
2. (transitive) To defend, to protect.
3. (transitive) To fend off, to repel, to turn aside, as anything mischievous that approaches. (usually followed by off)

   Synonym: ward off
4. (intransitive) To be vigilant; to keep guard.
5. (intransitive) To act on the defensive with a weapon.

Derived terms

• beward

Translations

See also

• Ward on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Ward in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Anagrams

• draw

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vart/, [vaʁt], [vaɐ̯t], [vaːt], [ʋ-]
• Homophones: Wart (general), wart, wahrt (some speakers)

Verb

ward

1. Archaic form of wurde, the first/third-person singular preterite of werden
   • Genesis 1:3

Usage notes

• This form was still common, though formal, until the first half of the 20th century. Since then it has become archaic and is now no longer part of normal standard German. It may still be met with in archaicizing poetic language, including popular stock phrases such as und ward nicht mehr gesehen (“and was never seen again”).

Further reading

• “ward” in Duden online

Maltese

Etymology

From Arabic وَرْد (ward).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wart/

Noun

ward m (collective, singulative warda, dual wardtajn or wardtejn, plural urad or uradi or urud or uradijiet, paucal wardiet)

1. rose, roses

Derived terms

Old English

Noun

ward m

1. Alternative form of weard

Old High German

Verb

ward

1. first/third-person singular past indicative of werdan