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Ward vs Block - What's the difference?

ward | block |

In obsolete terms the difference between ward and block

is that ward is an underage orphan while block is a blockhead; a stupid fellow; a dolt.

In uk terms the difference between ward and block

is that ward is a division of a forest while block is solitary confinement.

In transitive terms the difference between ward and block

is that ward is to fend off, to repel, to turn aside, as anything mischievous that approaches; -- usually followed by off while block is to stretch or mould (a knitted item, a hat, etc.) into the desired shape.

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

    * * ----

    block

    English

    (wikipedia block)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A substantial, often approximately cuboid, piece of any substance.
  • *
  • You young porkers who are sitting in front of me, every one of you will scream your lives out at the block within a year.
    A block of ice.
    A block of stone.
    Anne Boleyn placed her head on the block and awaited her execution.
  • A group of urban lots of property, several acres in extent, not crossed by public streets.
  • I'm going for a walk around the block .
  • A residential building consisting of flats.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham)
  • , title=(The China Governess) , chapter=Foreword citation , passage=He turned back to the scene before him and the enormous new block' of council dwellings. The design was some way after Corbusier but the ' block was built up on plinths and resembled an Atlantic liner swimming diagonally across the site.}}
    A block of flats.
  • The distance from one street to another in a city that is built (approximately) to a grid pattern.
  • The place you are looking for is two long blocks''' east and one short '''block north.
  • (slang) The human head.
  • I'll knock your block off.
  • A wig block: a simplified head model upon which wigs are worn.
  • * 1851 , (Herman Melville), (Moby Dick) ,
  • Next morning, Monday, after disposing of the embalmed head to a barber, for a block , I settled my own and comrade’s bill; using, however, my comrade’s money.
  • A mould on which hats, bonnets, etc., are shaped.
  • * Shakespeare
  • He wears his faith but as the fashion of his hat; it ever changes with the next block .
  • A set of sheets (of paper) joined together at one end.
  • A block of 100 tickets.
  • (computing) A logical data storage unit containing one or more physical sectors (see cluster).
  • (computing) A region of code in a program that acts as a single unit, such as a function or loop.
  • (cryptography) A fixed-length group of bits making up part of a message.
  • (rigging) A case with one or more sheaves/pulleys, used with ropes to increase or redirect force, for example, as part of the rigging of a sailing ship.
  • (chemistry) A portion of a macromolecule, comprising many units, that has at least one feature not present in adjacent portions.
  • Something that prevents something from passing (see blockage).
  • There's a block in the pipe that means the water can't get through.
  • (sports) An action to interfere with the movement of an opposing player or of the object of play (ball, puck).
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011
  • , date=February 12 , author=Oliver Brett , title=Sunderland 1–2 Tottenham , work=BBC citation , page= , passage=The match proved an unedifying spectacle until Spurs won a corner following their first move of real quality, John Mensah making an important block with Jermain Defoe poised to strike. }}
  • (cricket) A shot played by holding the bat vertically in the path of the ball, so that it loses momentum and drops to the ground.
  • (volleyball) A defensive play by one or more players meant to deflect a spiked ball back to the hitter’s court.
  • (philately) A joined group of four (or in some cases nine) postage stamps, forming a roughly square shape.
  • A section of split logs used as fuel.
  • (UK) Solitary confinement.
  • A cellblock.
  • (falconry) The perch on which a bird of prey is kept.
  • (printing, dated) A piece of hard wood on which a stereotype or electrotype plate is mounted.
  • (obsolete) A blockhead; a stupid fellow; a dolt.
  • * Shakespeare
  • What a block art thou!
  • A section of a railroad where the block system is used.
  • Synonyms

    * See also * city block

    Derived terms

    ; cuboid * * * * ; group of buildings * * * * * ; computing * ; distance * ; cutting base * * ; prevent passage * * * * * * ; rigging * * ; human head * * * ; volleyball * * * ; miscellaneous * * * * *

    Synonyms

    * (volleyball) stuff, roof, wall

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To fill (something) so that it is not possible to pass.
  • The pipe is blocked .
  • To prevent (something or someone) from passing.
  • You're blocking the road – I can't get through.
  • To prevent (something from happening or someone from doing something).
  • His plan to take over the business was blocked by the boss.
  • (sports) To impede an opponent.
  • He blocked the basketball player's shot.
    The offensive linemen tried to block the blitz.
  • (theater) To specify the positions and movements of the actors.
  • It was very difficult to block this scene convincingly.
  • (cricket) To hit with a block.
  • (cricket) To play a block shot.
  • To disable communication via telephone, instant messaging, etc., with an undesirable someone.
  • I tried to send you a message, but you've blocked me!
  • (computing) To wait.
  • When the condition expression is false, the thread blocks on the condition variable.
  • To stretch or mould (a knitted item, a hat, etc.) into the desired shape.
  • I blocked the mittens by wetting them and pinning them to a shaped piece of cardboard.