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Ward vs Town - What's the difference?

ward | town |

In obsolete terms the difference between ward and town

is that ward is an underage orphan while town is a collection of houses enclosed by fences or walls.

As nouns the difference between ward and town

is that ward is a guard; a guardian or watchman while town is a settlement; an area with residential districts, shops and amenities, and its own local government; especially one larger than a village and smaller than a city.

As a verb ward

is to keep in safety, to watch over, to guard.

As a proper noun Ward

is {{surname|A=An English occupational|from=occupations}} for a guard or watchman.

ward

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) ward, from (etyl) . Cognate with German Wart.

Noun

(en noun)
  • (archaic, or, obsolete) A guard; a guardian or watchman.
  • * 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , III.xi:
  • no gate they found, them to withhold, / Nor ward to wait at morne and euening late [...].

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) ward, warde, from (etyl) ; English guard is a parallel form which came via Old French.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Protection, defence.
  • # (obsolete) A guard or watchman; now replaced by warden .
  • #* (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • the best ward of mine honour
  • #* (Edmund Spenser) (c.1552–1599)
  • The assieged castle's ward / Their steadfast stands did mightily maintain.
  • #* (John Dryden) (1631-1700)
  • For want of other ward , / He lifted up his hand, his front to guard.
  • # The action of a watchman; monitoring, surveillance (usually in phrases keep ward etc. ).
  • #* 1590 , (Edmund Spenser), (The Faerie Queene) , II.vii:
  • Before the dore sat selfe-consuming Care, / Day and night keeping wary watch and ward , / For feare least Force or Fraud should vnaware / Breake in
  • # Guardianship, especially of a child or prisoner.
  • #* 1485 , Sir (Thomas Malory), (w, Le Morte d'Arthur) , Book V:
  • So forth the presoners were brought before Arthure, and he commaunded hem into kepyng of the conestabyls warde , surely to be kepte as noble presoners.
  • #* (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • I must attend his majesty's command, to whom I am now in ward .
  • #* (Edmund Spenser) (c.1552–1599)
  • It is also inconvenient, in Ireland, that the wards and marriages of gentlemen's children should be in the disposal of any of those lords.
  • # An enchantment or spell placed over a designated area, or a social unit, that prevents any tresspasser from entering, approaching and/or even from being able to locate said-protected premises
  • # (historical, Scots law) Land tenure through military service.
  • # (fencing) A guarding or defensive motion or position.
  • #* (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • Thou knowest my old ward ; here I lay, and thus I bore my point.
  • A protected place.
  • # (archaic) An area of a castle, corresponding to a circuit of the walls.
  • #* 1942 , (Rebecca West), Black Lamb and Grey Falcon , Canongate 2006, page 149:
  • Diocletian.
  • #* 2000 , (George RR Martin), A Storm of Swords , Bantam 2011, p. 78:
  • With the castle so crowded, the outer ward had been given over to guests to raise their tents and pavilions, leaving only the smaller inner yards for training.
  • # A section or subdivision of a prison.
  • # An administrative division of a borough, city or council.
  • #* (John Dryden) (1631-1700)
  • Throughout the trembling city placed a guard, / Dealing an equal share to every ward .
  • # (UK) A division of a forest.
  • # (Mormonism) A subdivision of the LDS Church, smaller than and part of a stake, but larger than a branch.
  • # A room in a hospital where patients reside.
  • #* {{quote-news, year=2011, date=December 16, author=Denis Campbell, work=Guardian
  • , title= Hospital staff 'lack skills to cope with dementia patients' , passage=Many hospitals have not taken simple steps to lessen the distress and confusion which dementia sufferers' often feel on being somewhere so unfamiliar – such as making signs large and easy to read, using colour schemes to help patients find their way around unfamiliar wards and not putting family mementoes such as photographs nearby.}}
  • A person under guardianship.
  • # A minor looked after by a guardian.
  • #* , chapter=22
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=Not unnaturally, “Auntie” took this communication in bad part. Thus outraged, she showed herself to be a bold as well as a furious virago. Next day she found her way to their lodgings and tried to recover her ward by the hair of the head.}}
  • # (obsolete) An underage orphan.
  • An object used for guarding.
  • # The ridges on the inside of a lock, or the incisions on a key.
  • #*, II.1:
  • A man must thorowly sound himselfe, and dive into his heart, and there see by what wards or springs the motions stirre.
  • #* Tomlinson
  • The lock is mademore secure by attaching wards to the front, as well as to the back, plate of the lock, in which case the key must be furnished with corresponding notches.
  • #* 1893 , (Arthur Conan Doyle), ‘The Resident Patient’, Norton 2005, page 628:
  • With the help of a wire, however, they forced round the key. Even without the lens you will perceive, by the scratches on this ward , where the pressure was applied.
  • Etymology 3

    From (etyl) warden, from (etyl) .

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To keep in safety, to watch over, to guard.
  • * Spenser
  • Whose gates he found fast shut, no living wight / To ward the same.
  • To defend, to protect.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Tell him it was a hand that warded him / From a thousand dangers.
  • * 1603 , John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essays , II.3:
  • they went to seeke their owne death, and rushed amidst the thickest of their enemies, with an intention, rather to strike, than to ward themselves.
  • To fend off, to repel, to turn aside, as anything mischievous that approaches; -- usually followed by off .
  • * Daniel
  • Now wards a felling blow, now strikes again.
  • * Addison
  • The pointed javelin warded off his rage.
  • * I. Watts
  • It instructs the scholar in the various methods of warding off the force of objections.
  • To be vigilant; to keep guard.
  • * 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , II.viii:
  • They for vs fight, they watch and dewly ward , / And their bright Squadrons round about vs plant [...].
  • To act on the defensive with a weapon.
  • Synonyms
    * (to fend off) ward off

    Anagrams

    * draw

    See also

    * * ----

    town

    English

    Noun

    (wikipedia town) (en noun)
  • A settlement; an area with residential districts, shops and amenities, and its own local government; especially one larger than a village and smaller than a city.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-05-10, author=Audrey Garric
  • , volume=188, issue=22, page=30, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) citation , passage=As towns continue to grow, replanting vegetation has become a form of urban utopia and green roofs are spreading fast. Last year 1m square metres of plant-covered roofing was built in France, as much as in the US, and 10 times more than in Germany, the pioneer in this field. In Paris 22 hectares of roof have been planted, out of a potential total of 80 hectares.}}
  • Any more urbanized center than the place of reference.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4 , passage=Judge Short had gone to town , and Farrar was off for a three days' cruise up the lake. I was bitterly regretting I had not gone with him when the distant notes of a coach horn reached my ear, and I descried a four-in-hand winding its way up the inn road from the direction of Mohair.}}
  • A rural settlement in which a market was held at least once a week.
  • The residents (as opposed to (gown): the students, faculty, etc.) of a community which is the site of a university.
  • (label) (Used to refer to a town or similar entity under discussion).
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=2 , passage=I had occasion
  • (label) A municipal organization, such as a corporation, defined by the laws of the entity of which it is a part.
  • (label) An enclosure which surrounded the mere homestead or dwelling of the lord of the manor.
  • (label) The whole of the land which constituted the domain.
  • (label) A collection of houses enclosed by fences or walls.
  • (Palsgrave)
  • A farm or farmstead; also, a court or farmyard.
  • Usage notes

    An urban city is typically larger than a rural town, which in turn is typically larger than a village. In rural areas, a town'' is considered urban. In urban areas, a ''town is considered suburban; a village in the suburbs.

    Derived terms

    * boom town/boomtown * company town * county town * cow town * cross town/cross-town/crosstown * downtown * ghost town * go to town * hometown * in town * jerkwater town * man about town * market town * new town * on the town * one-horse town * only game in town * out of town * paint the town red * post town * satellite town * shanty town * shire town * skip town * small-town * talk of the town * toast of the town * town and gown * town ball * town car * town center/town centre * town-crier * townee * towner * town gas * town hall/townhall * town house/townhouse * townhome * townie * townland * townless * townlet * town planning * townsfolk * township * townsman * town square * town twinning * townwide * twin town * uptown * (town)

    See also

    * urban * suburban * rural

    Statistics

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