Ward \Ward\, v. i.

1. To be vigilant; to keep guard.

2. To act on the defensive with a weapon.

She redoubling her blows drove the stranger to no other shift than to ward and go back. --Sir P. Sidney.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Ward \Ward\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Warded; p. pr. & vb. n. Warding.]

[OE. wardien, AS. weardian to keep, protect; akin to OS. ward?n to watch, take care, OFries. wardia, OHG. wart?n, G. warten to wait, wait on, attend to, Icel. var?a to guarantee defend, Sw. v[*a]rda to guard, to watch; cf. OF. warder, of German origin. See Ward, n., and cf. Award, Guard, Reward.]

1. To keep in safety; to watch; to guard; formerly, in a specific sense, to guard during the day time.

Whose gates he found fast shut, no living wight To ward the same. --Spenser.

2. To defend; to protect.

Tell him it was a hand that warded him From thousand dangers. --Shak.

3. To defend by walls, fortifications, etc. [Obs.]

4. To fend off; to repel; to turn aside, as anything mischievous that approaches; -- usually followed by off.

Now wards a felling blow, now strikes again. --Daniel.

The pointed javelin warded off his rage. --Addison.

It instructs the scholar in the various methods of warding off the force of objections. --I. Watts.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

-ward \-ward\ (w[~e]rd), -wards \-wards\ (w[~e]rdz). [AS. -weard, -weardes; akin to OS. & OFries. -ward. OHG. -wert, G. -w["a]rts, Icel. -ver[eth]r, Goth. -va['i]r[thorn]s, L. vertere to turn, versus toward, and E. worth to become. [root]143. See Worth. v. i., and cf. Verse. Adverbs ending in -wards (AS. -weardes) and some other adverbs, such as besides, betimes, since (OE. sithens). etc., were originally genitive forms used adverbially.]

Suffixes denoting course or direction to; motion or tendency toward; as in backward, or backwards; toward, or towards, etc.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Ward \Ward\, n. [AS. weard, fem., guard, weard, masc., keeper, guard; akin to OS. ward a watcher, warden, G. wart, OHG. wart, Icel. v["o]r[eth]r a warden, a watch, Goth. -wards in da['u]rawards 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.

Still, when she slept, he kept both watch and ward. --Spenser.

2. One who, or that which, guards; garrison; defender; protector; means of guarding; defense; protection.

For the best ward of mine honor. --Shak.

The assieged castle's ward Their steadfast stands did mightily maintain. --Spenser.

For want of other ward, He lifted up his hand, his front to guard. --Dryden.

3. The state of being under guard or guardianship; confinement under guard; the condition of a child under a guardian; custody.

And he put them in ward in the house of the captain of the guard. --Gen. xl. 3.

I must attend his majesty's command, to whom I am now in ward. --Shak.

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.

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.

5. One who, or that which, is guarded. Specifically:
   (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.
   (b) A division of a county. [Eng. & Scot.]


   (c) A division, district, or quarter of a town or city.

Throughout the trembling city placed a guard, Dealing an equal share to every ward. --Dryden.
   (d) A division of a forest. [Eng.]


   (e) A division of a hospital; as, a fever ward.

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.

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.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)