1. [n]  a division of a prison (usually consisting of several cells)
2. [n]  block forming a division of a hospital (or a suite of rooms) shared by patients who need a similar kind of care; "they put her in a 4-bed ward"
3. [n]  a district into which a city or town is divided for the purpose of administration and elections
4. [n]  a person who is under the protection or in the custody of another
5. [n]  United States businessman who in 1872 established a successful mail-order business (1843-1913)
6. [n]  English writer of novels who was an active opponent of the women's suffrage movement (1851-1920)
7. [n]  English economist and conservationist (1914-1981)
8. [v]  watch over or shield from danger or harm; protect; "guard my possessions while I'm away"

Ward
The freedom of the range, the bawling of the longhorns, the lonesome night watch beneath a vast, starry sky--they got into a man`s blood until he knew there was nothing better than the life of a cowboy--except the love of a good woman.

more details ...

1. \-ward\ (w[~e]rd), -wards \-wards\ (w[~e]rdz). [AS.
   -weard, -weardes; akin to OS. & OFries. -ward. OHG. -wert, G.
   -w["a]rts, Icel. -ver[eth]r, Goth. -va['i]r[thorn]s, L.
   vertere to turn, versus toward, and E. worth to become.
   [root]143. See {Worth}. v. i., and cf. {Verse}. Adverbs
   ending in -wards (AS. -weardes) and some other adverbs, such
   as besides, betimes, since (OE. sithens). etc., were
   originally genitive forms used adverbially.]
   Suffixes denoting course or direction to; motion or tendency
   toward; as in backward, or backwards; toward, or towards,
   etc.
   

2. \Ward\, n. [AS. weard, fem., guard, weard, masc., keeper,
   guard; akin to OS. ward a watcher, warden, G. wart, OHG.
   wart, Icel. v["o]r[eth]r a warden, a watch, Goth. -wards in
   da['u]rawards a doorkeeper, and E. wary; cf. OF. warde guard,
   from the German. See {Ware}, a., {Wary}, and cf. {Guard},
   {Wraith}.]
   1. The act of guarding; watch; guard; guardianship;
      specifically, a guarding during the day. See the Note
      under {Watch}, n., 1.
            Still, when she slept, he kept both watch and ward.
                                                  --Spenser.
   2. One who, or that which, guards; garrison; defender;
      protector; means of guarding; defense; protection.
            For the best ward of mine honor.      --Shak.
            The assieged castle's ward Their steadfast stands
            did mightily maintain.                --Spenser.
            For want of other ward, He lifted up his hand, his
            front to guard.                       --Dryden.
   3. The state of being under guard or guardianship;
      confinement under guard; the condition of a child under a
      guardian; custody.
            And he put them in ward in the house of the captain
            of the guard.                         --Gen. xl. 3.
            I must attend his majesty's command, to whom I am
            now in ward.                          --Shak.
            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.   --Spenser.
   4. A guarding or defensive motion or position, as in fencing;
      guard. ``Thou knowest my old ward; here I lay, and thus I
      bore my point.'' --Shak.
   5. One who, or that which, is guarded. Specifically:
      (a) A minor or person under the care of a guardian; as, a
          ward in chancery. ``You know our father's ward, the
          fair Monimia.'' --Otway.
      (b) A division of a county. [Eng. & Scot.]
      (c) A division, district, or quarter of a town or city.
                Throughout the trembling city placed a guard,
                Dealing an equal share to every ward. --Dryden.
      (d) A division of a forest. [Eng.]
      (e) A division of a hospital; as, a fever ward.
   6.
      (a) A projecting ridge of metal in the interior of a lock,
          to prevent the use of any key which has not a
          corresponding notch for passing it.
      (b) A notch or slit in a key corresponding to a ridge in
          the lock which it fits; a ward notch. --Knight.
                The lock is made . . . more 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.
                                                  --Tomlinson.
   {Ward penny} (O. Eng. Law), money paid to the sheriff or
      castellan for watching and warding a castle.
   {Ward staff}, a constable's or watchman's staff. [Obs.]
   

3. \Ward\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Warded}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Warding}.] [OE. wardien, AS. weardian to keep, protect; akin
   to OS. ward?n to watch, take care, OFries. wardia, OHG.
   wart?n, G. warten to wait, wait on, attend to, Icel. var?a to
   guarantee defend, Sw. v[*a]rda to guard, to watch; cf. OF.
   warder, of German origin. See {Ward}, n., and cf. {Award},
   {Guard}, {Reward}.]
   1. To keep in safety; to watch; to guard; formerly, in a
      specific sense, to guard during the day time.
            Whose gates he found fast shut, no living wight To
            ward the same.                        --Spenser.
   2. To defend; to protect.
            Tell him it was a hand that warded him From thousand
            dangers.                              --Shak.
   3. To defend by walls, fortifications, etc. [Obs.]
   4. To fend off; to repel; to turn aside, as anything
      mischievous that approaches; -- usually followed by off.
            Now wards a felling blow, now strikes again.
                                                  --Daniel.
            The pointed javelin warded off his rage. --Addison.
            It instructs the scholar in the various methods of
            warding off the force of objections.  --I. Watts.
   

4. \Ward\, v. i.
   1. To be vigilant; to keep guard.
   2. To act on the defensive with a weapon.
            She redoubling her blows drove the stranger to no
            other shift than to ward and go back. --Sir P.
                                                  Sidney.
   

a prison (Gen. 40:3, 4); a watch-station (Isa. 21:8); a guard (Neh. 13:30).