*ward*

{ } adv. [ AS. æfteweard, a., behind. See Aft, and -ward (suffix). The final s in afterwards is adverbial, orig. a genitive ending. ] At a later or succeeding time. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. (Naut.) Toward the stern. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. Back again. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } adv. Toward the air; upward. [ R. ] Keats. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. See Awkward. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Awarded; p. pr. & vb. n. Awarding. ] [ OF. eswarder to look at, consider, decide, judge; es (L. ex) + warder, garder, to observe, take heed, keep, fr. OHG. wartēn to watch, guard. See Ward. ] To give by sentence or judicial determination; to assign or apportion, after careful regard to the nature of the case; to adjudge; as, the arbitrators awarded damages to the complainant. [ 1913 Webster ]

To review
The wrongful sentence, and award a new. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To determine; to make an award. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. OF. award, awart, esgart. See Award, v. t. ] 1. A judgment, sentence, or final decision. Specifically: The decision of arbitrators in a case submitted.“Impatient for the award.” Cowper. [ 1913 Webster ]

An award had been given against. Gilpin. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The paper containing the decision of arbitrators; that which is warded. Bouvier. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who awards, or assigns by sentence or judicial determination; a judge. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. Turned away; away. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Awk + -ward. ] 1. Wanting dexterity in the use of the hands, or of instruments; not dexterous; without skill; clumsy; wanting ease, grace, or effectiveness in movement; ungraceful; as, he was awkward at a trick; an awkward boy. [ 1913 Webster ]

And dropped an awkward courtesy. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Not easily managed or effected; embarrassing. [ 1913 Webster ]

A long and awkward process. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

An awkward affair is one that has gone wrong, and is difficult to adjust. C. J. Smith. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Perverse; adverse; untoward. [ Obs. ] “Awkward casualties.” “Awkward wind.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

O blind guides, which being of an awkward religion, do strain out a gnat, and swallow up a cancel. Udall. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Ungainly; unhandy; clownish; lubberly; gawky; maladroit; bungling; inelegant; ungraceful; unbecoming. -- Awkward, Clumsy, Uncouth. Awkward has a special reference to outward deportment. A man is clumsy in his whole person, he is awkward in his gait and the movement of his limbs. Clumsiness is seen at the first view. Awkwardness is discovered only when a person begins to move. Hence the expressions, a clumsy appearance, and an awkward manner. When we speak figuratively of an awkward excuse, we think of a lack of ease and grace in making it; when we speak of a clumsy excuse, we think of the whole thing as coarse and stupid. We apply the term uncouth most frequently to that which results from the lack of instruction or training; as, uncouth manners; uncouth language. [ 1913 Webster ]

-- Awk"ward*ly adv. -- Awk"ward*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

. (Mil.) A squad of inapt recruits assembled for special drill. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

adv. Backward. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Directed to the back or rear; as, backward glances. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Unwilling; averse; reluctant; hesitating; loath. [ 1913 Webster ]

For wiser brutes were backward to be slaves. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Not well advanced in learning; not quick of apprehension; dull; inapt; as, a backward child. “The backward learner.” South. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Late or behindhand; as, a backward season. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Not advanced in civilization; undeveloped; as, the country or region is in a backward state. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. Already past or gone; bygone. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

And flies unconscious o'er each backward year. Byron. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The state behind or past. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

In the dark backward and abysm of time. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To keep back; to hinder. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Backward, v. t. + -ation. ] (Stock Exchange) The seller's postponement of delivery of stock or shares, with the consent of the buyer, upon payment of a premium to the latter; -- also, the premium so paid. See Contango. Biddle. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. 1. Reluctantly; slowly; aversely. [ Obs. ] Sir P. Sidney. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Perversely; ill. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

And does he think so backwardly of me? Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The state of being backward. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } adv. [ Back, adv. + -ward. ] 1. With the back in advance or foremost; as, to ride backward. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Toward the back; toward the rear; as, to throw the arms backward. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. On the back, or with the back downward. [ 1913 Webster ]

Thou wilt fall backward. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Toward, or in, past time or events; ago. [ 1913 Webster ]

Some reigns backward. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. By way of reflection; reflexively. Sir J. Davies. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. From a better to a worse state, as from honor to shame, from religion to sin. [ 1913 Webster ]

The work went backward. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. In a contrary or reverse manner, way, or direction; contrarily; as, to read backwards. [ 1913 Webster ]

We might have . . . beat them backward home. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Bear + ward a keeper. ] A keeper of bears. See Bearherd. [ R. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. Towards bed. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A bridge keeper; a warden or a guard for a bridge. [ Obs. ] Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The principal ward of a key. Knight. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Same as Castleguard. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One of the officers (usually two) in an Episcopal church, whose duties vary in different dioceses, but always include the provision of what is necessary for the communion service. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A clay tobacco pipe, with a long tube. [ Slang, Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

There was a small wooden table placed in front of the smoldering fire, with decanters, a jar of tobacco, and two long churchwardens. W. Black. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The office of a churchwarden. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ OF. couard, coard, coart, n. and adj., F. couard, fr. OF. coe, coue, tail, F. queue (fr. L. coda, a form of cauda tail) + -ard; orig., short-tailed, as an epithet of the hare, or perh., turning tail, like a scared dog. Cf. Cue, Queue, Caudal. ] 1. (Her.) Borne in the escutcheon with his tail doubled between his legs; -- said of a lion. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Destitute of courage; timid; cowardly. [ 1913 Webster ]

Fie, coward woman, and soft-hearted wretch. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Belonging to a coward; proceeding from, or expressive of, base fear or timidity. [ 1913 Webster ]

He raised the house with loud and coward cries. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Invading fears repel my coward joy. Proir. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A person who lacks courage; a timid or pusillanimous person; a poltroon. [ 1913 Webster ]

A fool is nauseous, but a coward worse. Dryden.

Syn. -- Craven; poltroon; dastard. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To make timorous; to frighten. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

That which cowardeth a man's heart. Foxe. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. couardise, fr. couard. See Coward. ] Want of courage to face danger; extreme timidity; pusillanimity; base fear of danger or hurt; lack of spirit. [ 1913 Webster ]

The cowardice of doing wrong. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Moderation was despised as cowardice. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF. couardie. ] Cowardice. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Cowardly. [ Obs. ] “A base and a cowardish mind.” Robynson (More's Utopia). [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To render cowardly. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

God . . . cowardizeth . . . insolent spirits. Bp. Hall. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Cowardice. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Wanting courage; basely or weakly timid or fearful; pusillanimous; spiritless. [ 1913 Webster ]

The cowardly rascals that ran from the battle. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Proceeding from fear of danger or other consequences; befitting a coward; dastardly; base; as, cowardly malignity. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

The cowardly rashness of those who dare not look danger in the face. Burke.

Syn. -- Timid; fearful; timorous; dastardly; pusillanimous; recreant; craven; faint-hearted; chicken-hearted; white-livered. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In the manner of a coward. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Cowardice. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. Toward death. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Moving or extending from a higher to a lower place; tending toward the earth or its center, or toward a lower level; declivous. [ 1913 Webster ]

With downward force
That drove the sand along he took his way. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Descending from a head, origin, or source; as, a downward line of descent. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Tending to a lower condition or state; depressed; dejected; as, downward thoughts. Sir P. Sidney. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } adv. [ AS. ad&unr_;nweard. See Down, adv., and -ward. ] 1. From a higher place to a lower; in a descending course; as, to tend, move, roll, look, or take root, downward or downwards. “Looking downwards.” Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

Their heads they downward bent. Drayton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. From a higher to a lower condition; toward misery, humility, disgrace, or ruin. [ 1913 Webster ]

And downward fell into a groveling swine. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. From a remote time; from an ancestor or predecessor; from one to another in a descending line. [ 1913 Webster ]

A ring the county wears,
That downward hath descended in his house,
From son to son, some four or five descents. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } adv. Toward the earth; -- opposed to heavenward or skyward. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } adv. Toward the east; in the direction of east from some point or place; as, New Haven lies eastward from New York. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To make froward, perverse, or ungovernable. [ Obs. ] Sir E. Sandys. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. An officer who has authority to direct in the extinguishing of fires, or to order what precautions shall be taken against fires; -- called also fireward. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The van; the front. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

My foreward shall be drawn out all in length,
Consisting equally of horse and foot. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. [ Forth, adv. + -ward. ] Forward. [ Obs. ] Bp. Fisher. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE., fr. AS. foreweard; fore before + weard a ward. See Ward, n. ] An agreement; a covenant; a promise. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Tell us a tale anon, as forward is. Chaucer.

a. 1. Near, or at the fore part; in advance of something else; as, the forward gun in a ship, or the forward ship in a fleet. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Ready; prompt; strongly inclined; in an ill sense, overready; too hasty. [ 1913 Webster ]

Only they would that we should remember the poor; the same which I also was forward to do. Gal. ii. 10. [ 1913 Webster ]

Nor do we find him forward to be sounded. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Ardent; eager; earnest; in an ill sense, less reserved or modest than is proper; bold; confident; as, the boy is too forward for his years. [ 1913 Webster ]

I have known men disagreeably forward from their shyness. T. Arnold. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Advanced beyond the usual degree; advanced for the season; as, the grass is forward, or forward for the season; we have a forward spring. [ 1913 Webster ]

The most forward bud
Is eaten by the canker ere it blow. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]