noun
- a division or district of a city or town, as for administrative or political purposes.
- one of the districts into which certain English and Scottish boroughs are divided.
- a division, floor, or room of a hospital for a particular class or group of patients: a convalescent ward; a critical ward.
- any of the separate divisions of a prison.
- a political subdivision of a parish in Louisiana.
- Mormon Church. one of the subdivisions of a stake, presided over by a bishop.
- Fortification. an open space within or between the walls of a castle or fortified place: the castle’s lower ward.
- 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 his or her own affairs.
- the state of being under restraining guard or in custody.
- a person who is under the protection or control of another.
- a movement or posture of defense, as in fencing.
- a curved ridge of metal inside a lock, forming an obstacle to the passage of a key that does not have a corresponding notch.
- the notch or slot in the bit of a key into which such a ridge fits.
- the act of keeping guard or protective watch: watch and ward.
- Archaic. a company of guards or a garrison.