1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Ward  From Wikisource Jump to:
navigation, search  WARD, that which guards or watches and that
which is guarded or watched. The word is a doublet of “guard,”
which was adapted from the French comparatively late into
English. Both are to be referred to the Teutonic root war-, to
protect, defend, cf. “wary,” “warn,” “beware,” O. Eng. weard,
Ger. warten, &c., and the English “guardian,” “garrison,” &c.
The principal applications of the term are, in architecture, to
the inner courts of a fortified place; at Windsor Castle they
are called the upper and lower wards (see Bailey, Castle); to a
ridge of metal inside a lock blocking the passage of any key
which has not a corresponding slot into which the ridge fits,
the slot in the key being also called “ward” (see Locks).
Another branch of meaning is to be found in the use of the word
for a division into which a borough is divided for the purpose
of election of councillors, or a parish for election of
guardians. It was also the term used a