Link Centre Dictionary

ward

UK/wɔːd/ US/wɔɹd/ common uk

noun

1.

a person who is under the protection or in the custody of another

3.

block forming a division of a hospital (or a suite of rooms) shared by patients who need a similar kind of care

  • “they put her in a 4-bed ward”
5.

English writer of novels who was an active opponent of the women''s suffrage movement (1851-1920)

6.

United States businessman who in 1872 established a successful mail-order business (1843-1913)

7.

a division of a prison (usually consisting of several cells)

Synonyms

verb

1.

watch over or shield from danger or harm; protect

  • “guard my possessions while I”
Synonyms

Origin

From Middle English ward, warde, from Old English weard (“watching, ward, protection, guardianship; advance post; waiting for, lurking, ambuscade”), from Proto-West Germanic *wardu, from Proto-Germanic *wardō (“protection, attention, keeping”), an extension of the stem *wara- (“attentive”) (English wary, beware), from Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to cover”). Cognate with German Warte (“watchtower”), warten (“wait for”); English guard is a parallel form which came via Old French.

Phrases

  • casual ward
  • crown ward
  • Glen Ward
  • Lower Ninth Ward
  • maternity ward
  • Nightingale ward
  • psych ward
  • Romano-Ward syndrome
  • special ward
  • Ward Beach
  • Ward County
  • Ward Hill

Related words

Word family

Part of

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.