A guardian. The word is frequently thus pronounced by half educated people.
1761. [It is so spelled] in a Suffolk [Mass.] probate document dated April 14.—‘Dialect Notes,’ i. 213.
1833. Have a gardeen ’pynted for you as soon as I git ashore.—John Neal, ‘The Down-Easters,’ i. 97.
1844. I know they are of age, and do n’t need any guardeens.—Knick. Mag., xxiii. 24 (Jan.).
1859. I’ll take him an’ keep him till he’s fourteen. He can choose his own guardeen at that age.—Mrs. Duniway, ‘Captain Gray’s Company,’ p. 177 (Portland, Oregon).
