What does ward mean?
Definitions for ward
wɔrdward
This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word ward.
Princeton's WordNet
wardnoun
a person who is under the protection or in the custody of another
wardnoun
a district into which a city or town is divided for the purpose of administration and elections
ward, hospital wardnoun
block forming a division of a hospital (or a suite of rooms) shared by patients who need a similar kind of care
"they put her in a 4-bed ward"
Ward, Barbara Ward, Baroness Jackson of Lodsworthnoun
English economist and conservationist (1914-1981)
Ward, Mrs. Humphrey Ward, Mary Augusta Arnold Wardnoun
English writer of novels who was an active opponent of the women's suffrage movement (1851-1920)
Ward, Montgomery Ward, Aaron Montgomery Wardnoun
United States businessman who in 1872 established a successful mail-order business (1843-1913)
cellblock, wardverb
a division of a prison (usually consisting of several cells)
guard, wardverb
watch over or shield from danger or harm; protect
"guard my possessions while I'm away"
Wiktionary
Wardnoun
An English occupational surname for a guard or watchman.
Etymology: weard (masc.), from warduz. Cognate with German Wart.
Samuel Johnson's Dictionary
Ward
A syllable much used as an affix in composition, as heavenward, with tendency to heaven; hitherward, this way; from weard , Saxon
Before she could come to the arbour, she saw walking from her-ward, a man in shepherdish apparel. Philip Sidney.
Wardnoun
Etymology: from the verb.
Still when she slept, he kept both watch and ward. Edmund Spenser.
Sublime on these a tow’r of steel is rear’d;
And dire Tisiphone there keeps the ward.
Girt in her sanguine gown, by night and day,
Observant of the souls that pass the downward way. Dryden.By reason of these two forts, though there be but small wards left in them, there are two good towns now grown, which are the greatest stay of both those two countries. Edmund Spenser.
Th’ assieged castles ward
Their stedfast stonds did mightily maintain. Edmund Spenser.Thou know’st my old ward; here I lay, and thus I bore my point. William Shakespeare, Hen. IV.
Come from thy ward,
For I can here disarm thee with this stick. William Shakespeare, Tempest.Now, by proof it shall appear,
Whether thy horns are sharper, or my spear.
At this, I threw: for want of other ward,
He lifted up his hand, his front to guard. Dryden.She dwells securely on the excellency of her honour. Now could I come to her with any detection in my hand, I could drive her from the ward of her purity, her reputation, and a thousand other her defences, which now are too too strongly embattled against me. William Shakespeare, Merry Wives of Windsor.
Throughout the trembling city plac’d a guard,
Dealing an equal share to every ward. Dryden.That wretched creature being deprehended in that impiety, was held in ward. Richard Hooker.
Stopt there was his too veh’ment speech with speed,
And he sent close to ward from where he stood. Daniel.In the key-hole turns
Th’ intricate wards, and ev’ry bolt and bar. John Milton.As there are locks for several purposes, so are there several inventions in the making and contriving their wards, or guards. Joseph Moxon, Mech. Exer.
The keys, as well as the locks, were fitted ward to ward, by the same wisdom. Nehemiah Grew, Cosmology.
The king causeth bring up his wards, but bestoweth no more of their rents upon them than is useful. William Drummond.
You know our father’s ward,
The fair Monimia: is your heart at peace?
Is it so guarded that you could not love her? Thomas Otway.Thy Violante’s heart was ever thine,
Compell’d to wed, before she was my ward. Dryden.When stern as tutors, and as uncles hard,
We lash the pupil, and defraud the ward. Dryden.Titles of honour and privileges, the rich and the great can never deserve, unless they employ them for the protection of these, the true wards and children of God. Thomas Sprat.
I must attend his majesty’s command, to whom I am now in ward, evermore in subjection. William Shakespeare.
Lewis the eleventh of France having much abated the greatness and power of the peers, would say, that he had brought the crown out of ward. Francis Bacon.
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. Edmund Spenser.
To Wardverb
Etymology: weardian , Saxon; waren, Dutch; garder, French.
He marched forth towards the castle wall,
Whose gates he found fast shut, ne living wight
To ward the same, nor answer comer’s call. Fairy Queen.Tell him it was a hand that warded him
From thousand dangers, bid him bury it. William Shakespeare.Not once the baron lift his armed hand
To strike the maid, but gazing on her eyes,
Where lordly Cupid seem’d in arms to stand,
No way to ward or shun her blows he tries. Edward Fairfax.Up and down he traverses his ground;
Now wards a felling blow, now strikes again. Daniel.Toxeus amaz’d, and with amazement flow,
Or to revenge, or ward the coming blow,
Stood doubting; and while doubting thus he stood,
Receiv’d the steel bath’d in his brother’s blood. Dryden.The pointed javelin warded off his rage. Addison.
The provision of bread for food; cloathing to ward off the inclemency of the air, were to be first look’d after. John Woodward.
It instructs the scholar in the various methods of warding off the force of objections, and of discovering and repelling the subtle tricks of sophisters. Isaac Watts, Improv. of the Mind.
To Wardverb
So redoubling her blows, drove the stranger to no other shift than to ward and go back. Philip Sidney, b. ii.
Short crooked swords in closer fight they wear,
And on their warding arms light bucklers bear. Dryden.
ChatGPT
ward
A ward generally refers to a division or district of a city or town under the administration of a specific local authority. It can also refer to a room in a hospital usually containing several patients, or a person, especially a minor, legally placed under the care or supervision of a guardian or a court. The context in which the word is used often determines its specific meaning.
Webster Dictionary
Wardadjective
the act of guarding; watch; guard; guardianship; specifically, a guarding during the day. See the Note under Watch, n., 1
Wardnoun
one who, or that which, guards; garrison; defender; protector; means of guarding; defense; protection
Wardnoun
the state of being under guard or guardianship; confinement under guard; the condition of a child under a guardian; custody
Wardnoun
a guarding or defensive motion or position, as in fencing; guard
Wardnoun
one who, or that which, is guarded
Wardnoun
a minor or person under the care of a guardian; as, a ward in chancery
Wardnoun
a division of a county
Wardnoun
a division, district, or quarter of a town or city
Wardnoun
a division of a forest
Wardnoun
a division of a hospital; as, a fever ward
Wardnoun
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
Wardnoun
a notch or slit in a key corresponding to a ridge in the lock which it fits; a ward notch
Wardnoun
to keep in safety; to watch; to guard; formerly, in a specific sense, to guard during the day time
Wardnoun
to defend; to protect
Wardnoun
to defend by walls, fortifications, etc
Wardnoun
to fend off; to repel; to turn aside, as anything mischievous that approaches; -- usually followed by off
Wardverb
to be vigilant; to keep guard
Wardverb
to act on the defensive with a weapon
Etymology: [OE. wardien, AS. weardian to keep, protect; akin to OS. wardn to watch, take care, OFries. wardia, OHG. wartn, G. warten to wait, wait on, attend to, Icel. vara to guarantee defend, Sw. vrda to guard, to watch; cf. OF. warder, of German origin. See Ward, n., and cf. Award, Guard, Reward.]
Wikidata
Ward
A ward is a subdivision of a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. Wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected to the area. It is common in the United States for wards to simply be numbered. In Australia, Canada, Monaco, New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States they are an electoral district within a district or municipality, used in local government elections. In the United States, wards are usually subdivided into precincts for polling purposes. In the Republic of Ireland, urban Wards and rural District Electoral Divisions were renamed Electoral Divisions in 1994. The electoral districts for local authorities are often popularly called "wards". These consist of multiple electoral divisions, and are officially called "local electoral areas". In the case of a municipal amalgamation, the former cities and towns that make up the new metropolis may be referred to as wards. ⁕In certain cities of India, like Mumbai and Delhi, a ward is an administrative unit of the city region, a city area is divided into Zones, which in turn contains numerous wards.
Chambers 20th Century Dictionary
Ward
wawrd, v.t. to guard or take care of: to keep in safety: to keep away, fend off (with off).—v.i. to act on the defensive.—n. act of warding, watch: those whose business is to ward or defend: state of being guarded: means of guarding: one who is under a guardian: a division of a city, hospital, county, (B.) army, &c.: that which guards a lock or hinders any but the right key from opening it: (B.) guard, prison: a defensive movement in fencing.—ns. Ward′en, one who wards or guards: a keeper, especially a public officer appointed for the naval or military protection of some particular district of country: the head of a school, college, &c.; Ward′enry (rare), the district in charge of a warden; Ward′enship, the office of a warden; Ward′er, one who wards or keeps: a staff of authority; Ward′-mote, a meeting of a ward, or of a court of a ward, which has power to inquire into and present defaults in matters relating to watch, police, &c.; Ward′robe, a room or portable closet for robes or clothes: wearing apparel; Ward′-room, a room used as a messroom by the officers of a war-ship; Ward′ship, the office of a ward or guardian: state of being under a guardian: in English feudal law, the guardianship which the feudal lord had of the land of his vassal while the latter was an infant or minor.—Ward in Chancery, a minor under the protection of the Court of Chancery.—Warden of the Cinque Ports, the governor of the Cinque Ports, having the authority of an admiral and the power to hold a court of admiralty; Warden of the Marches, officers formerly appointed to keep the districts of England adjoining Scotland and Wales in a state of defence; Warden of the Mint, formerly the official of the English Mint next in rank to the Master.—Port warden, the chief officer in a port. [A.S. weardian; Ger. warten, to watch in order to protect.]
The Standard Electrical Dictionary
Ward
Direction in a straight line; a term proposed by Prof. James Thompson. The words "backward" and "forward" indicate its scope.
Military Dictionary and Gazetteer
ward
Watch, the act of guarding. A garrison or party stationed for defense of any place; a position of defense or guard made by a weapon in fencing. Also, to guard; to watch; to defend; to parry an attack.
Suggested Resources
WARD
What does WARD stand for? -- Explore the various meanings for the WARD acronym on the Abbreviations.com website.
Surnames Frequency by Census Records
WARD
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Ward is ranked #79 in terms of the most common surnames in America.
The Ward surname appeared 260,464 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 88 would have the surname Ward.
75.5% or 196,859 total occurrences were White.
18.5% or 48,186 total occurrences were Black.
2.4% or 6,355 total occurrences were of Hispanic origin.
2% or 5,418 total occurrences were of two or more races.
0.9% or 2,370 total occurrences were American Indian or Alaskan Native.
0.4% or 1,276 total occurrences were Asian.
Matched Categories
British National Corpus
Written Corpus Frequency
Rank popularity for the word 'ward' in Written Corpus Frequency: #3245
Nouns Frequency
Rank popularity for the word 'ward' in Nouns Frequency: #1527
Anagrams for ward »
draw
Numerology
Chaldean Numerology
The numerical value of ward in Chaldean Numerology is: 4
Pythagorean Numerology
The numerical value of ward in Pythagorean Numerology is: 1
Examples of ward in a Sentence
To place patients of different illnesses in the same ward is to use people to kill each other. approx quote, possibly on L Hotel Dieu in Paris.
James Ward believe that James Ward can help to listen with empathy and compassion to the real pain that hurts Black Americans, but James Ward want to be of service to Jacob Blakes father and to James Ward nation to do whatever James Ward can to bring true healing, true peace and to really seek God's very best in James Ward nation.
Washington Governor Jay Inslee:
This is not a moment of high anxiety, this is a low risk. It appears to have a transmission vector that really should not prevent anyone from going anywhere in Snohomish County, except maybe the isolation ward at the hospital.
Whenever we had a baby that was a ward of the state or the parents weren't there or needed help, I would come in and rock the baby.
There were no available beds in the free ward, we struggled to find a bed in the paid ward.
Popularity rank by frequency of use
References
Translations for ward
From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary
- sbor, oddělení, svěřenecCzech
- Stadtbezirk, Station, Wache, MündelGerman
- pupilo, barrio, guardia, guarda, salaSpanish
- kaupunginosa, vahti, osasto, potilassali, suojella, holhottava, potilashuone, haitta, vartio, holhokkiFinnish
- pupille, cour, salle, garde, quartierFrench
- ward, dolteyManx
- kerület, kórterem, városrészHungarian
- guardianoItalian
- かわす, 病室, 被後見人, 病棟Japanese
- សង្កាត់, ខាងKhmer
- 병동Korean
- чува, штитеник, варди, стража, реон, одделениеMacedonian
- okręg, oddział, dzielnicaPolish
- guardaPortuguese
- район, большой приход, отражать, сторожить, охранять, палата, быть начеку, защищатьRussian
- odjel, bolesnička sobaSerbo-Croatian
- وارڈUrdu
- 病房Chinese
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