WARD, in composition, as in toward, homeward, is the Saxon weard, from the root of L.

WARD, v.t.

In composition, as in toward, homeward, is the Sax. weard, from the root of L. verto, &c. It corresponds to the L. versus.

1. Watch; act of guarding. Still when she slept, he kept both watch and ward. – Spenser.
2. Garrison; troops to defend a fort; as, small wards left in forts. [Not in use.] – Spenser.
3. Guard made by a weapon in fencing. For want of other ward, / He lifted up his hand his from to guard. – Dryden.
4. A fortress; a strong hold. – Shak.
5. One whose business is to guard, watch and defend; as, a fire-ward. A certain district, division or quarter of a town or city, committed to an alderman. There are twenty-six wards in London.
6. Custody; confinement under guard. Pharaoh put his butler and baker in ward. Gen. xl.
7. A minor or person under the care of a guardian. See Blackstone's chapter on the rights and duties of guardian and ward.
8. The state of a child under a guardian. I must attend his majesty's commands, to whom I am now in ward. – Shak.
9. Guardianship; right over orphans. It is inconvenient in Ireland, that the wards and marriages of gentlemen's children should be in the disposal of any of those lords. – Spenser.
10. The division of a forest.
11. The division of a hospital.
12. A part of a lock which corresponds to its proper key.

1. To be vigilant; to keep guard. [Obs.]
2. To act on the defensive with a weapon. She drove the stranger to no other shift, than to ward and go back. – Sidney. And on their warding arms light bucklers bear. – Dryden.

1. To guard; to keep in safety; to watch. Whose gates he found fast shut, no living wight / To ward the same. – Spenser. In this sense, ward is obsolete, as we have adopted the French of the same word, to guard. We now never apply ward to the thing to be defended, but always to the thing against which it is to be defended. We ward off a blow or dagger, and we guard a person or place.]
2. To defend; to protect. Tell him it was a hand that warded him / From thousand dangers. – Shak. [Obs. See the remark, supra.]
3. To fend off; to repel; to turn aside any thing mischievous that approaches. Now wards a failing blow, now strikes again. – Daniel. The pointed jav'lin warded off his rage. – Addison. It instructs the scholar in the various methods of warding off the force of objections. – Watts. [This is the present use of ward. To ward off is now the more general expression, nor can I, with Johnson, think it less elegant.]

1. Suffixes denoting course or direction to; motion or tendency toward; as in backward, or backwards; toward, or towards, etc.
2. 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.

3. 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.

4. To be vigilant; to keep guard.
5. 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.

6. To defend; to protect.
   
   

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

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. To defend by walls, fortifications, etc.
   
   
   [Obs.]
10. 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.
11. 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.

12. One who, or that which, is guarded.
    
    
    Specifically: --

    (a)

13. 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)