hospitalised vs warded

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The verb 'warded' means 'hospitalised', according to the Oxford dictionaries, but I understand native speakers do not recognise this definition despite the fact that the Oxford dictionaries is an authority on English.

Why is this so? I'm puzzled.

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Type: Question • Score: 8 • Views: 1,211 • Replies: 17

[+4] - roger - 04/30/2016[quote="tanguatlay"] It's strange that native speakers do not use 'warded' the way our reporters do. [/quote] I think it's strange that your reporters don't use the language the way...
[+3] - engineer - 04/30/2016The Oxford Dictionary has words that fell out of use centuries ago. A hospital has "wards" where the patients are, but I have never heard someone say "warded". It's probably a...

@tanguatlay,

Does the Oxford tell you when warded was in use?

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@ehBeth,

ehBeth wrote:

Does the Oxford tell you when warded was in use?

No.

The definition is found in The New Oxford Dictionary of English. It states that it the foremost authority - the most comprehensive coverage of current English.

Its online version is Oxford dictionaries.

1 Reply

@tanguatlay,

The Oxford Dictionary has words that fell out of use centuries ago. A hospital has "wards" where the patients are, but I have never heard someone say "warded". It's probably a great word to use in a word game but not in conversation.

1 Reply

@engineer,

Thanks, engineer.

Where I live, 'warded' is always used by our reporters to the exclusion of 'hospitalised". I have never seen 'hospitalised' used by them. It is interesting that Oxford Advanced Dictionary, whose seventh edition was published in 2009 does not define 'warded' as stated above.

The New Oxford Dictionary of English (published in 1998) is an updated version, and it would seem that it has introduced new words not found in Oxford Advanced Dictionary, which was published in 2009, as stated above.

It's strange that native speakers do not use 'warded' the way our reporters do.

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@tanguatlay,

Quote:

It's strange that native speakers do not use 'warded' the way our reporters do.

Using 'warded' to mean 'hospitalised' (hospitalized in USA) was common in 19th century British medical jargon. It is now obsolete in UK usage. It lingers in former British colonies, chiefly, I believe, in Malaysia, Singapore and Sri Lanka.

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I'm an every day Guardian news reader (american) and I think I have seen 'warded' used there, likely more in the comments sections than major articles. I have taken it to be about someone being held for mental disorders, but please don't trust me on that; it's just something I inferred as I was reading.

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@tanguatlay,

this is an interesting discussion of the same question

http://forum.wordreference.com/threads/the-accident-victim-has-been-warded.1310397/

with comments including

Quote:

Yes, the verb to ward meaning 'to put in a (hospital) ward' is a Singaporeanism.

and

Quote:

OED is famous for being exhaustive. If it makes it to print a few times somewhere in the English speaking world OED is liable to have it. That does not mean it is in common use though.

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The only time I have ever heard the word 'warded' being used is in relation to guarding against evil spirits, etc.

My mum was a hospital nurse for thirty years and I never heard her use the word.

2 Replies

@Lordyaswas,

Lordyaswas wrote:

The only time I have ever heard the word 'warded' being used is in relation to guarding against evil spirits, etc.

My mum was a hospital nurse for thirty years and I never heard her use the word.

Are you daring to say the Oxford dictionary is not the final word on this?

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@chai2,

Don't make me reread Guardian comments. Not you, Lordy or chai. Just that I have seen it.

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@Lordyaswas,

Quote:

My mum was a hospital nurse for thirty years and I never heard her use the word.

Unless those thirty years were (say) 1870 to 1890 that's not surprising.

1 Reply

@chai2,

"Are you daring to say the Oxford dictionary is not the final word on this?"

Ah!

I would like to amend my previous statement regarding my maternal relation, and declare that I now remember her using the word 'warded' at least three times a day from 1961 to the summer of 1992.

This means that she used that well known word at least 31,500 times.

Sorry for any confusion.

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@tanguatlay,

tanguatlay wrote:

It's strange that native speakers do not use 'warded' the way our reporters do.

I think it's strange that your reporters don't use the language the way native speakers do.

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@Tes yeux noirs,

Quote:

Unless those thirty years were (say) 1870 to 1890 that's not surprising.

Er... that's only 20.

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Thanks to all of you.

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There are many words that linger as 'regionalisms' in the everyday English vocabularies of ex-British colonies long after they have fallen out of use in the UK. One example that springs to mind is the South African "bio" meaning "cinema", short for "bioscope", which is what Brits called it around 1920. Others include geyser (water heater and tank for the home), globe (a light-bulb - also used in Australian and New Zealand English).

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@Tes yeux noirs,

In Sweden we also go to the BIO a shortening of biograf

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hospitalised vs warded

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