warding

Verb

ward (third-person singular simple present wards, present participle warding, simple past and past participle warded)

1. (transitive) To keep in safety, to watch over, to guard.
   • Whoſe gates he found faſt ſhut, ne liuing wight
     To ward the ſame, nor anſwere commers call1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 3
2. (transitive) To defend, to protect.
   • Tell him it was a hand that warded him
     From a thousand dangers.c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
3. (transitive) To fend off, to repel, to turn aside, as anything mischievous that approaches. (usually followed by off)
   • Draw forth thy ſword, thou mightie man at armes,
     Intending but to raiſe my charmed ſkin:
     And Ioue himſelfe will ſtretch his hand from heauen,
     To ward the blow, and ſhield me ſafe from harme, […]c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC...

   Synonyms:

   ward off

4. (intransitive) To be vigilant; to keep guard.
   • They for vs fight, they watch and dewly ward,
     And their bright Squadrons round about vs plant […]1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
5. (intransitive) To act on the defensive with a weapon.

See all 39 meanings of ward