Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A town officer in England.
  • noun A precinct detective, particularly in New York city.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • She went to see the "wardman," O'Ryan, who under the guise of being a plain clothes man or detective, collected and turned in to the captain, who took his "bit" and passed up the rest, all the money levied upon saloons, dives, procuresses, dealers in unlawful goods of any kind from opium and cocaine to girls for "hock shops."

    Susan Lenox: Her Fall and Rise, Volume II 1915

  • Then there was the seven dollars which must be handed to the police captain's "wardman" in the darkness of some entry every Thursday night.

    Susan Lenox: Her Fall and Rise, Volume II 1915

  • She went to see the "wardman," O'Ryan, who under the guise of being a plain clothes man or detective, collected and turned in to the captain, who took his "bit" and passed up the rest, all the money levied upon saloons, dives, procuresses, dealers in unlawful goods of any kind from opium and cocaine to girls for

    Susan Lenox: Her Fall and Rise David Graham Phillips 1889

  • "wardman" in the darkness of some entry every Thursday night.

    Susan Lenox: Her Fall and Rise David Graham Phillips 1889

  • The saloon-keeper's face expanded with hope, as he leaned aside and whispered to a friendly wardman.

    McClure's Magazine, Vol. 6, No. 2, January, 1896 Various

  • The fire-laddie, the ward executive, the wardman, the roundsman, the strong-arm squad, the third-degree, and other such objects of American devotion are unknown in England.

    Chapter 4. American and English Today. 2. Differences in Usage Henry Louis 1921

  • The Supreme Council, consisting of the governor, the intendant, the bishop, and at different times from three to twelve councilors, stood between the people and the King of France, transmitting the King's will to the people, the people's wants to the King; and the laws enacted by the council ranged all the way from criminal decrees to such petty regulations as a modern city wardman might pass.

    Canada: the Empire of the North Being the Romantic Story of the New Dominion's Growth from Colony to Kingdom 1903

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