What is "ward penny"

Ward \Ward\, n. [AS. weard, fem., guard, weard, masc., keeper, guard; akin to OS. ward a watcher, warden, G. wart, OHG. wart, Icel. v["o]r[eth]r a warden, a watch, Goth. -wards in da['u]rawards a doorkeeper, and E. wary; cf. OF. warde guard, from the German. See Ware, a., Wary, and cf. Guard, Wraith.]

1. The act of guarding; watch; guard; guardianship; specifically, a guarding during the day. See the Note under Watch, n., 1.

   Still, when she slept, he kept both watch and ward.
   --Spenser.

2. One who, or that which, guards; garrison; defender; protector; means of guarding; defense; protection.

   For the best ward of mine honor.
   --Shak.

   The assieged castle's ward Their steadfast stands did mightily maintain.
   --Spenser.

   For want of other ward, He lifted up his hand, his front to guard.
   --Dryden.

3. The state of being under guard or guardianship; confinement under guard; the condition of a child under a guardian; custody.

   And he put them in ward in the house of the captain of the guard.
   --Gen. xl. 3.

   I must attend his majesty's command, to whom I am now in ward.
   --Shak.

   It is also inconvenient, in Ireland, that the wards and marriages of gentlemen's children should be in the disposal of any of those lords.
   --Spenser.

4. A guarding or defensive motion or position, as in fencing; guard. ``Thou knowest my old ward; here I lay, and thus I bore my point.''
   --Shak.

5. One who, or that which, is guarded. Specifically:

   1. A minor or person under the care of a guardian; as, a ward in chancery. ``You know our father's ward, the fair Monimia.''
      --Otway.

   2. A division of a county. [Eng. & Scot.]

   3. A division, district, or quarter of a town or city.

      Throughout the trembling city placed a guard, Dealing an equal share to every ward.
      --Dryden.

   4. A division of a forest. [Eng.]

   5. A division of a hospital; as, a fever ward.

6. 1. A projecting ridge of metal in the interior of a lock, to prevent the use of any key which has not a corresponding notch for passing it.

   2. A notch or slit in a key corresponding to a ridge in the lock which it fits; a ward notch.
      --Knight.

      The lock is made . . . more secure by attaching wards to the front, as well as to the back, plate of the lock, in which case the key must be furnished with corresponding notches.
      --Tomlinson.

      Ward penny (O. Eng. Law), money paid to the sheriff or castellan for watching and warding a castle.

      Ward staff, a constable's or watchman's staff. [Obs.]