Ward (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p.Warded; p. pr. & vb. n.Warding.] [OE. wardien, AS. weardian to keep, protect; akin to OS. ward�n to watch, take care, OFries. wardia, OHG. wart�n, G. warten to wait, wait on, attend to, Icel. var�a to guarantee defend, Sw. vårda to guard, to watch; cf. OF. warder, of German origin. See Ward, n., and cf. Award, Guard, Reward.]
1. To keep in safety; to watch; to guard; formerly, in a specific sense, to guard during the day time.
Whose gates he found fast shut, no living wight
To ward the same. Spenser.
2. To defend; to protect.
Tell him it was a hand that warded him
From thousand dangers. Shak.
3. To defend by walls, fortifications, etc.
4. To fend off; to repel; to turn aside, as anything mischievous that approaches; — usually followed by off.
Now wards a felling blow, now strikes again. Daniel.
The pointed javelin warded off his rage. Addison.
It instructs the scholar in the various methods of warding off the force of objections. I. Watts.