DCHP-1 Online

warden

• 1a n. in colonial times, an official of a land company who was responsible for disposing of Crown Lands for settlement.

  See also: warden of the forests  

  • 1827  Persons wishing to contract for Clearing and Forming a Road . . . through . . . the Canada Company's . . . Guelph Block, may inspect the plan . . . at the Warden's Office in Galt.
  • 1841  Must the taxes be demanded by suit at law? or is the failure to pay, a forfeiture such as to warrant the Treasurer, or Warden, or A. B. or C. to declare the land lapsed?

• 1b n. Hist. in the Red River Settlement, an official having charge of the keeping of law and order on the plains, as during the buffalo hunts.

  See also: warden of the plains  

• 2 n. in Ontario, the chairman of the county council, himself a township reeve, selected for the chair by his fellow reeves on the council.

  See also: county warden  town warden  

  • 1841  And be it enacted, that there shall be a district council in each such district as aforesaid, which district council shall consist of a warden and councillors, to be appointed and elected as hereinunder provided.
  • 1861  The head of every county and provisional corporation is designated the warden . . . so the head of every township and village, the reeve.
  • 1945  (1950)  The elections for all councils are held annually, and each county council appoints after the election one of its number as a presiding officer, who is called the warden.
  • 1966  His uncle . . . was a former warden of the county and in 1887 a great-uncle . . . was also a warden.

• 3a † n. a government officer responsible for seeing that game laws are observed; a game warden.

  • 1938  The warden heard him give an unearthly scream, but he never saw him again though he searched for hours.
  • 1955  As proof of his fitness to continue as warden he challenged the superintendent to a thirty-mile hike on snowshoes with an eighty-pound pack, guaranteeing to beat him by five miles. b. Maritimes someone employed to keep poachers from fishing in leased waters.

• 3b n. Maritimes someone employed to keep poachers from fishing in leased waters.

  • 1954  The lease will be sold subject to the stipulation that the lessees are required to supply sufficient wardens to protect their waters.

• 4 n. at certain Canadian universities, a faculty member in charge of a students' residence, students' union, etc.

  • 1958  Some of the students residing in the new men's residence at Queen's are shown chatting with the warden. . . .