Home › Glossary › Letter W

wards

Noun
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

The ridged parts inside a lock that the key fits into. In older usage, a ward is a part of a lock mechanism.

Detailed Definition
In this context, wards are the internal projections in a lock that the key turns past. Keats uses the technical lock-and-key term to make Sleep seem like someone quietly securing the mind against waking.
Example
Example in poetry:
“Turn the key deftly in the oiled wards” uses wards for the slots inside a lock that admit its key; Poe’s locked chambers often make such mechanical details ominous; In a prison poem, “the warded gate denied the dawn” turns lock-wards into an image of confinement; Do not confuse wards with hospital patients or protected children
Additional Notes
The word "wards" in the quoted line has an old technical meaning connected to locks, which many modern readers would not know.; Found in the poem, To Sleep by John Keats
Also Known As
guardians sentinels protectors
Skip to main content