warder

Everyday

1. (UK, old) A person who guards prisoners in a prison; a prison guard. tree →
2. (old) A person who guards a gate or a building. tree →

In the lessons

In The Wind in the Willows, warders guard the castle where Toad is imprisoned. At the Tower of London, the famous Beefeaters are called Yeoman Warders. Today the job title is prison officer. In old stories, a warder with keys stands for being trapped.

Examples

• The warder rattled his keys. tree →
• The Yeoman Warders guard the Tower of London. tree →
• Toad crept past the sleeping warder. tree →
• Every evening the warder locked the cells. tree →
• The warder at the gate asked who we were. tree →
• Old prisons had warders in dark uniforms. tree →
• I twirled the weather-cock round on the summit of the tower, and it creaked like the snoring of a warder, but no warder was there; nothing but mice and rats. tree →

Note

Do not mix up with warden (a person in charge of a place — a prison warden, a traffic warden, a park warden) or ward (a hospital room). Similar: gaoler, jailer, guard.