warder

¹ American  

[wawr-der] / ˈwɔr dər /

noun

1. a person who guards something, as a doorkeeper or caretaker.

2. a soldier or other person set to guard an entrance.

3. Chiefly British. an official having charge of prisoners in a jail.

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warder ² American  

[wawr-der] / ˈwɔr dər /

noun

1. a truncheon or staff of office or authority, used in giving signals.

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warder ¹ British  

/ ˈwɔːdə /

noun

1. an officer in charge of prisoners in a jail

2. a person who guards or has charge of something

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warder ² British  

/ ˈwɔːdə /

noun

1. (formerly) a staff or truncheon carried by a ruler as an emblem of authority and used to signal his wishes or intentions

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Other Word Forms

• wardership noun

Etymology

Origin of warder¹

1350–1400; Middle English warder ( e ) ( see ward, -er ¹); compare Anglo-French wardere < Middle English

Origin of warder²

1400–50; late Middle English < ?

Example Sentences

“Lockdown was probably the oddest experience in my life,” says McGowran, who spent nearly 26 years in the Royal Air Force before becoming a yeoman warder.

From Washington Post • Jul. 8, 2021

Years ago as a gallery warder at the British Museum I would often choose an object as I patrolled, and extemporise a brief story from it.

From The Guardian • Oct. 30, 2019

At least he was not at exercise on Monday, though I think I caught sight of him at the corner of the stone-yard, walking in charge of a warder.

From Slate • Jun. 16, 2018

Her stories take the figure of the imprisoned “madwoman,” as found in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” or Charlotte Brontë’s “Jane Eyre,” and make her the warder of her own jail.

From The New Yorker • Oct. 10, 2016

We stayed in one comer of the cell that night, eating our sandwiches and reading the paper the warder also brought for us.

From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela