Warden
name, noun, verb ·Moderate ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A guard or watchman. archaic, literary
"He called to the wardens on the outside battlements."
- 2 A variety of pear.
"Faith I would have had him rosted like a warden in a brown Paper, and no more talk on’t:"
- 3 the chief official in charge of a prison wordnet
- 4 A chief administrative officer of a prison.
"The warden of the state prison, Ezekiel Purdy, was a kind man if stern. He invariably made all newcomers a little speech of welcome […]"
- 5 An official charged with supervisory duties or with the enforcement of specific laws or regulations; such as a game warden or air-raid warden.
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- 6 A governing official in various institutions
"the warden of a college"
- 1 To carry out the duties of a warden.
- 1 A surname originating as an occupation for a warden.
- 2 A village and civil parish in south Northumberland, England (OS grid ref NY9166).
Example
More examples"There was only one warden on duty when the riot started."
Etymology
From Middle English wardein, from Anglo-Norman wardein, from warder (“to guard”), variant of Old French guarder (“to guard”) (whence modern French garder, also English guard), from Proto-Germanic *ward-; related to Old High German wartēn (“to watch”). Compare guardian, French gardien, from Old French guardian, guardein. Compare also ward and reward. Doublet of guardian.
From Middle English wardon, origin uncertain; perhaps from Anglo-Norman or Anglo-Latin wardo, -ōnis.
Related phrases
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.