Ward

King James Dictionary

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

WARD,

1. To guard to deep in safety to watch.

Whose gates he found fast shut, he living wight to ward the same--

In this sense, ward is obsolete, as we have adopted the French of the same word, to guard.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. Obs. See the remark, supra.

3. To fend off to repel to turn aside any thing mischievous that approaches.

Now wards a falling blow, now strikes again.

The pointed javlin warded off his rage.

It instructs the scholar in the various methods of warding off the force of objections.

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.

WARD,

1. To be vigilant to keep guard. 2. To act on the defensive with a weapon.

She drove the stranger to no other shift, than to ward and go back.

And on their warding arms light bucklers bear.

WARD, n.

1. Watch act of guarding.

Still when she slept, he kept both watch and ward.

2. Garrison troops to defend a fort as small wards left in forts. Not in use. 3. Guard made by a weapon in fencing.

For want of other ward, he lifted up his hand his front to guard.

4. A fortress a strong hold. 5. One whose business is to guard, watch and defend as a fire-ward. 6. A certain district, division or quarter of a town or city, committed to an alderman. There are twenty six wards in London. 7. Custody confinement under guard. Pharaoh put his butler and baker in ward.  Genesis 40 . 8. A minor or person under the care of a guardian. See Blackstones chapter on the rights and duties of guardian and ward. 9. The state of a child under a guardian.

I must attend his majestys commands, to whom I am now in ward.

10. Guardianship right over orphans.

It is convenient in Ireland, that the wards and marriages of gentlemens children should be in the disposal of any of those lords.

11. The division of a forest. 12. The division of a hospital. 13. A part of a lock which corresponds to its proper key.

Webster's Dictionary

(1): ( n.) One who, or that which, guards; garrison; defender; protector; means of guarding; defense; protection.

(2): ( n.) 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.

(3): ( n.) A division of a hospital; as, a fever ward.

(4): ( a.) The act of guarding; watch; guard; guardianship; specifically, a guarding during the day. See the Note under Watch, n., 1.

(5): ( n.) The state of being under guard or guardianship; confinement under guard; the condition of a child under a guardian; custody.

(6): ( n.) One who, or that which, is guarded.

(7): ( n.) A minor or person under the care of a guardian; as, a ward in chancery.

(8): ( n.) A division of a county.

(9): ( n.) A division, district, or quarter of a town or city.

(10): ( n.) A division of a forest.

(11): ( n.) To defend by walls, fortifications, etc.

(12): ( n.) A notch or slit in a key corresponding to a ridge in the lock which it fits; a ward notch.

(13): ( v. i.) To be vigilant; to keep guard.

(14): ( n.) To keep in safety; to watch; to guard; formerly, in a specific sense, to guard during the day time.

(15): ( n.) To defend; to protect.

(16): ( n.) To fend off; to repel; to turn aside, as anything mischievous that approaches; - usually followed by off.

(17): ( v. i.) To act on the defensive with a weapon.

(18): ( n.) A guarding or defensive motion or position, as in fencing; guard.

Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words

1: Φυλακή (Strong'S #5438 — Noun Feminine — phulake — foo-lak-ay' )

"a guard," is used of the place where persons are kept under guard (akin to phulax, "a keeper"), and translated "ward" in  Acts 12:10 . See Cage , HOLD (Noun), Imprisonment Prison , Watch.

2: Τήρησις (Strong'S #5084 — Noun Feminine — teresis — tay'-ray-sis )

primarily denotes "a watching" (tereo, "to watch"); hence "imprisonment, ward,"  Acts 4:3 (AV, "hold"); 5:18, RV, "(public) ward" [AV, "(common) prison"]. See HOLD (Noun), Keeping , B, Prison.

 Galatians 3:23Guard

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Ward. A prison, or an apartment of it.  Genesis 40:3;  Acts 12:10. Also a garrison or military post,  Nehemiah 12:25, or a class or detachment of persons for any particular service.  1 Chronicles 9:23;  1 Chronicles 25:8;  Nehemiah 13:30.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Genesis 40:3,4 Isaiah 21:8 Nehemiah 13:30

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

wôrd  : "Ward" and "guard" are two different spellings of the same word, and in consequence no clear line can be drawn between them. English Versions of the Bible, however, has used "guard" only in the sense of "a special body of soldiers" (  Genesis 37:36 , etc.), while "ward" is used, not only in this sense ( Jeremiah 37:13; contrast  Jeremiah 39:9 ), but also in a variety of others. So a "ward" may mean "any body of men on special duty," as  1 Chronicles 9:23; the King James Version  1 Chronicles 26:16;  Nehemiah 12:24 ,  Nehemiah 12:25 (the Revised Version (British and American) "watch"), or the duty itself, as   Isaiah 21:8;  1 Chronicles 12:29 the King James Version (the Revised Version (British and American) "allegiance");   1 Chronicles 25:8;  1 Chronicles 26:12 (the Revised Version (British and American) "office," margin "ward");   Nehemiah 12:45;  Nehemiah 13:30 (the Revised Version (British and American) "charge"). Or "ward" may mean "guarded place," always in the phrase "put in ward." the Revised Version (British and American) has kept this phrase throughout (  Genesis 40:3 , etc.), changing it only in  Ezekiel 19:9 , where "cage" better carries out the figure of the context.

The distinction of the older English between "watch" and "ward," as applying respectively to the night and to the day seems unknown in English Versions of the Bible. Compare  Isaiah 21:8 .

The affix "-ward," denoting direction and still used in such forms as "toward," "northward," etc., had a much wider range in Biblical English. So, "to God-ward" ( Exodus 18:19;  2 Corinthians 3:4;  1 Thessalonians 1:8 ); "to thee-ward" ( 1 Samuel 19:4 ); "to us-ward" ( Psalm 40:5;  Ephesians 1:19;  2 Peter 3:9 the King James Version); "to you-ward" (  2 Corinthians 1:12;  2 Corinthians 13:3;  Ephesians 3:2;  2 Peter 3:9 the Revised Version (British and American)); and in   Exodus 37:9 , the King James Version "even to the mercy seatward" (the Revised Version (British and American) "toward the mercy-seat").

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(prop. מַשְׁמָר or מַשְׁמֶרֶת , Φυλακή ; occasionally סוּגִר [ Ezekiel 19:9], or פְּקֻדָה [ Ezekiel 9:1;  Ezekiel 9:11], Custody ["oversight," etc.]), a prison (q.v.) or an apartment thereof ( Genesis 40:3;  Acts 12:10); also a watch-post at the gates of the Temple ( Nehemiah 12:25;  1 Chronicles 9:23). This term is likewise used to designate a class or detachment of priests or Levites ( 1 Chronicles 25:8;  Nehemiah 12:24;  Nehemiah 13:30).