Yard vs Ward - What's the difference?

In transitive terms the difference between yard and ward

is that yard is to confine to a yard while ward is to fend off, to repel, to turn aside, as anything mischievous that approaches; -- usually followed by off.

In obsolete terms the difference between yard and ward

is that yard is the penis while ward is an underage orphan.

yard

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) yard, .

Noun

(en noun)

A small, usually uncultivated area adjoining or (now especially) within the precincts of a house or other building ().

, title= Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage='Twas early June, the new grass was flourishing everywheres, the posies in the yard —peonies and such—in full bloom, the sun was shining, and the water of the bay was blue, with light green streaks where the shoal showed.}}

An enclosed area designated for a specific purpose, e.g. on farms, railways etc.

* {{quote-book, year=1931, author=

, title=Death Walks in Eastrepps , chapter=2/2 citation , passage=A little further on, to the right, was a large garage, where the charabancs stood, half in and half out of the yard .}}

(Jamaica) One’s house or home.

Derived terms

See also Yard * apple-yard * back yard, back-yard, backyard * barn-yard, barnyard * bone-yard, boneyard * brickyard * castle yard * chapel yard * churchyard * court-yard, courtyard * deer-yard, deeryard * dockyard * door-yard, dooryard * dung-yard * farm-yard, farmyard * fore-yard * front yard * graveyard * green-yard, greenyard * grip-yard * hemp-yard * hop-yard * inn-yard, innyard * junk-yard, junkyard * kailyard, kaleyard * kirkyard * knacker's yard * liberty of the yard * lumber-yard, lumberyard * marshaling yard, marshalling yard * mast-yard * navy yard, navy-yard * olive-yard * * palace yard * par-yard * poultry-yard * press-yard * rick-yard, rickyard * rope-yard * sale-yard, saleyard * schoolyard * scrapyard * shipyard * show-yard * stable-yard * stack-yard, stackyard * steelyard * stockyard * straw yard * switchyard * tan-yard, tanyard * tenter-yard * tilt-yard, tiltyard * timber-yard, timberyard * vinegar-yard * vineyard * wood-yard, woodyard * yardage * yard bird, yardbird * yard-boy * yard broom * yard-dike * yard-dog * yardful * yard grass, yard-grass * yardhove * yarding * yardland * yardman * yardmaster * yard-money * yardperson * yard sale * yardsman * yardswoman * yard work, yard-work

Verb

(en verb)

To confine to a yard.

* 1893 , Elijah Kellogg, Good old times, or, Grandfather's struggles for a homestead

As they reached the door, Bose, having yarded the cows, was stealing around the corner of the pig-sty, and making for the woods.

Etymology 2

From (etyl) yerd, , German Gerte.

Noun

(en noun)

(nautical) A long tapered timber hung on a mast to which is a sail, and may be further qualified as a square, lateen, or lug yard. The first is hung at right angles to the mast, the latter two hang obliquely.

(nautical) Any spar carried aloft ().

A staff, rod or stick.

(Piers Plowman)

A unit of length equal to three feet (exactly 0.9144 metres in the US and UK; ).

* , chapter=1

, title= Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage=Thinks I to myself, “Sol, you're run off your course again. This is a rich man's summer ‘cottage’

(US, slang) One hundred dollars.

(obsolete) The penis.

*, II.12:

*:there were some people found who tooke pleasure to unhood the end of their yard , and to cut off the fore-skinne after the manner of the Mahometans and Jewes.

Derived terms

* all wool and a yard wide * by the yard * clay yard * cloth yard, cloth-yard * cubic yard * fore-yard, foreyard * golden yard * jackyard * main yard, main-yard * mast-yard * meteyard * mizen-yard, mizen yard, mizzen-yard, mizzen yard * royal yardman * sailyard * six-yard box * square yard * steelyard * under the yard * upper yardman * yardage * yard-arm, yardarm * yard-coal * yarded * yardel * yard-fell * yard goods * yardland * yard-long * yard-measure * yard of ale * yard of clay * yard of land * yard of lime * yard of mortar * yard of satin * yard of stone * yard of tin * yard-rope * yard-seam * yard-stick, yardstick * yard-wand, yardwand * whole nine yards

Etymology 3

Corruption of (etyl) milliard.

Noun

(en noun)

(finance) 10⁹, A thousand millions or milliard.

I need to hedge a yard of yen.

Anagrams

* * ----

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