DICT.TW Dictionary Taiwan
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.]