<p><strong>Noun</strong></p><ul><li>A division or district of a city or town, as for administrative or political purposes.</li><li>One of the districts into which certain English and Scottish boroughs are divided.</li><li>A division, floor, or room of a hospital for a particular class or group of patients: a convalescent ward; a critical ward.</li><li>Any of the separate divisions of a prison.</li><li>A political subdivision of a parish in Louisiana.</li><li>One of the subdivisions of a stake in the Mormon Church, presided over by a bishop.</li><li>An open space within or between the walls of a castle or fortified place: the castle's lower ward.</li><li>A person, especially a minor, who has been legally placed under the care of a guardian or a court.</li><li>The state of being under the care or control of a legal guardian.</li><li>Guardianship over a minor or some other person legally incapable of managing their own affairs.</li><li>The state of being under restraining guard or in custody.</li><li>A person who is under the protection or control of another.</li><li>A movement or posture of defense, as in fencing.</li><li>A curved ridge of metal inside a lock, forming an obstacle to the passage of a key that does not have a corresponding notch.</li><li>The notch or slot in the bit of a key into which such a ridge fits.</li><li>The act of keeping guard or protective watch: watch and ward.</li><li>A company of guards or a garrison (archaic).</li></ul><p><strong>Verb</strong></p><ul><li>(used with object) 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.</li><li>To place in a ward, as of a hospital or prison.</li><li>(archaic) To protect; guard.</li></ul><p><strong>End of Response</strong></p>