Obs. exc. Hist. Also ward(e)rere. [Identical with WARDER sb.2; if the longer form be the original, it may have been a jocular use of WARDERERE int.] A warder or truncheon.
a. 1400–50. Wars Alex., 838. Þan Alexander at þis knyȝt angirs vnfaire, Wynnes him vp a wardrere [v.r. wardrerd] he walt in his handis, So hard him hittis on þe hede, his hernes out weltid.
c. 1420. Prose Life Alex. (1913), 110. Alexander smate Iobas on þe heued wit a warderere for na trespasse.
14[?]. Lat.-Eng. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 567/14. Bacillus, a warderere.
a. 1513. Fabyan, Chron., VII. (1811), 656. Þe Kyng … caste downe a warderer whiche he then helde in his hande.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. ccclii. 229. Iohan Lyon helde in his hande a whyte warderere.
1843. Lytton, Last Bar., IV. vii. By the laws, the combat may go on at thine asking—I retract my warderer.
