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. one of the subdivisions of a stake, presided over by a bishop.
7. an open space within or between the walls of a castle or fortified place: the castle's lower ward.
8. Law.
• a person, especially a minor, who has been legally placed under the care of a guardian or a court.
• the state of being under the care or control of a legal guardian.
• guardianship over a minor or some other person legally incapable of managing their 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. a company of guards or a garrison.

16. to avert, repel, or turn aside (danger, harm, an attack, an assailant, etc.) (usually followed by off): to ward off a blow; to ward off evil.
17. to place in a ward, as of a hospital or prison.
18. to protect; guard.

1. U.S. merchant and mail-order retailer.
2. American general in the American Revolution.
3. U.S. humorist.
4. English economist and author.
5. English novelist, born in Tasmania.
6. New Zealand statesman, born in Australia: prime minister of New Zealand 1906–12, 1928–30.
7. U.S. sociologist.
8. English clergyman, lawyer, and author in America.
9. a male given name.

1. a native English suffix denoting spatial or temporal direction, as specified by the initial element: toward; seaward; afterward; backward.

1. (in many countries) a district into which a city, town, parish, or other area is divided for administration, election of representatives, etc
2. a room in a hospital, esp one for patients requiring similar kinds of care
3. one of the divisions of a prison
4. an open space enclosed within the walls of a castle
5. law
• a person, esp a minor or one legally incapable of managing his own affairs, placed under the control or protection of a guardian or of a court
• guardianship, as of a minor or legally incompetent person
6. the state of being under guard or in custody
7. a person who is under the protection or in the custody of another
8. a means of protection
• an internal ridge or bar in a lock that prevents an incorrectly cut key from turning
• a corresponding groove cut in a key
10. a less common word for warden 1

11. to guard or protect

1. Dame Barbara (Mary), Baroness Jackson. 1914–81, British economist, environmentalist, and writer. Her books include Spaceship Earth (1966)
2. Mrs Humphry, married name of Mary Augusta Arnold. 1851–1920, English novelist. Her novels include Robert Elsmere (1888) and The Case of Richard Meynell (1911)
3. Sir Joseph George. 1856–1930, New Zealand statesman; prime minister of New Zealand (1906–12; 1928–30)

1. indicating direction towards
2. (forming adverbs) a variant and the usual US and Canadian form of -wards

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