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—wardless, adj./wawrd/, n.1. a division or district of a city or town, as for administrative or political purposes.2. one of the districts into which certain English and Scottish boroughs are divided.3. a division, floor, or room of a hospital for a particular class or group of patients: a convalescent ward; a critical ward.4. any of the separate divisions of a prison.5. a political subdivision of a parish in Louisiana.6. Mormon Ch. one of the subdivisions of a stake, presided over by a bishop.7. Fort. an open space within or between the walls of a castle or fortified place: the castle's lower ward.8. Law.a. a person, esp. a minor, who has been legally placed under the care of a guardian or a court.b. the state of being under the care or control of a legal guardian.c. guardianship over a minor or some other person legally incapable of managing his or her own affairs.9. the state of being under restraining guard or in custody.10. a person who is under the protection or control of another.11. a movement or posture of defense, as in fencing.12. a curved ridge of metal inside a lock, forming an obstacle to the passage of a key that does not have a corresponding notch.13. the notch or slot in the bit of a key into which such a ridge fits.14. the act of keeping guard or protective watch: watch and ward.15. Archaic. a company of guards or a garrison.v.t.16. to avert, repel, or turn aside (danger, harm, an attack, an assailant, etc.) (usually fol. by off): to ward off a blow; to ward off evil.17. to place in a ward, as of a hospital or prison.18. Archaic. to protect; guard.[bef. 900; (n.) ME warde, OE weard; (v.) ME warden, OE weardian; c. MD waerden, G warten; cf. GUARD]
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(as used in expressions)Beecher Henry WardHowe Julia WardJulia WardAnn WardWard Barbara Mary Baroness Jackson of Lodsworth* * *
Universalium. 2010.
