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1 definition found

From: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

 Ward n.
 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.”
 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.”
 (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.
    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.
 Ward penny O. Eng. Law,  money paid to the sheriff or castellan for watching and warding a castle.
 Ward staff, a constable's or watchman's staff. [Obs.]