Toward vs Ward - What's the difference?
toward | ward |
In the direction of.
:
*(Bible), (w) xxiv. 1
*:He set his face toward the wilderness.
*
*:Turning back, then, toward the basement staircase, she began to grope her way through blinding darkness, but had taken only a few uncertain steps when, of a sudden, she stopped short and for a little stood like a stricken thing, quite motionless save that she quaked to her very marrow in the grasp of a great and enervating fear.
In relation to (someone or something).
:
*(Bible), (w)
*:His eye shall be evil toward his brother.
For the purpose of attaining (an aim).
:
Located close to; near (a time or place).
:
*(Jonathan Swift) (1667–1745)
*:I am toward nine years older since I left you.
(obsolete) Future; to come.
* 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , II.iv:
(dated) Approaching, coming near; impending; present, at hand.
* Shakespeare
* 1843 , '', book 2, ch. XV, ''Practical — Devotional
Yielding, pliant; docile; ready or apt to learn; not froward.
(obsolete, or, archaic) Promising, likely; froward.
(archaic, or, obsolete) A guard; a guardian or watchman.
* 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , III.xi:
Protection, defence.
# (obsolete) A guard or watchman; now replaced by warden .
#* (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
#* (Edmund Spenser) (c.1552–1599)
#* (John Dryden) (1631-1700)
# The action of a watchman; monitoring, surveillance (usually in phrases keep ward etc. ).
#* 1590 , (Edmund Spenser), (The Faerie Queene) , II.vii:
# Guardianship, especially of a child or prisoner.
#* 1485 , Sir (Thomas Malory), (w, Le Morte d'Arthur) , Book V:
#* (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
#* (Edmund Spenser) (c.1552–1599)
# 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)
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:
#* 2000 , (George RR Martin), A Storm of Swords , Bantam 2011, p. 78:
# A section or subdivision of a prison.
# An administrative division of a borough, city or council.
#* (John Dryden) (1631-1700)
# (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= A person under guardianship.
# A minor looked after by a guardian.
#* , chapter=22
, title= # (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:
#* Tomlinson
#* 1893 , (Arthur Conan Doyle), ‘The Resident Patient’, Norton 2005, page 628:
To keep in safety, to watch over, to guard.
* Spenser
To defend, to protect.
* Shakespeare
* 1603 , John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essays , II.3:
To fend off, to repel, to turn aside, as anything mischievous that approaches; -- usually followed by off .
* Daniel
* Addison
* I. Watts
To be vigilant; to keep guard.
* 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , II.viii:
To act on the defensive with a weapon.
In obsolete terms the difference between toward and ward
is that toward is future; to come while ward is an underage orphan.As a preposition toward
is in the direction of.As an adjective toward
is future; to come.As a noun ward is
a guard; a guardian or watchman.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.toward
English
Preposition
(en-prep) (mainly in American English)Synonyms
* towardsUsage notes
* Although some have tried to discern a semantic distinction between the words (term) and (towards), the difference is merely dialectal. (term) is more common in American English and (towards) is the predominant form in British English.Adjective
(-)- ere that wished day his beame disclosd, / He either enuying my toward good, / Or of himselfe to treason ill disposd / One day vnto me came in friendly mood [...].
- Do you hear aught, sir, of a battle toward ?
- On the morrow […] orders the Cellerarius to send off his carpenters to demolish the said structure brevi manu , and lay up the wood in safe keeping. Old Dean Herbert, hearing what was toward , comes tottering along hither, to plead humbly for himself and his mill.
- Why, that is spoken like a toward prince. ? Shakespeare.
Statistics
* American Englishward
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) ward, from (etyl) . Cognate with German Wart.Noun
(en noun)- 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)- the best ward of mine honour
- The assieged castle's ward / Their steadfast stands did mightily maintain.
- For want of other ward , / He lifted up his hand, his front to guard.
- 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
- 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.
- I must attend his majesty's command, to whom I am now in ward .
- 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.
- Thou knowest my old ward ; here I lay, and thus I bore my point.
- Diocletian.
- 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.
- Throughout the trembling city placed a guard, / Dealing an equal share to every ward .
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.}}
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.}}
- A man must thorowly sound himselfe, and dive into his heart, and there see by what wards or springs the motions stirre.
- 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.
- 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)- Whose gates he found fast shut, no living wight / To ward the same.
- Tell him it was a hand that warded him / From a thousand dangers.
- 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.
- Now wards a felling blow, now strikes again.
- The pointed javelin warded off his rage.
- It instructs the scholar in the various methods of warding off the force of objections.
- They for vs fight, they watch and dewly ward , / And their bright Squadrons round about vs plant [...].