warder

noun3

1. •
   A guard, especially in a prison.

   • Kent. Mortimer, ’tis I. But hath thy portion wrought so happily? Younger Mortimer. It hath, my lord: the warders all asleep, I thank them, gave me leave to pass in peace. — 1594
2. •
   One who or that which wards or repels.

   • The conspicuous position thus accorded to the cat as a warder-off of evil fortune seems oddly paralleled, though not imitated, by the place accorded to the same animal in popular European folklore. — 1876
3. •
   (no longer used) A truncheon or staff carried by a king or commander, used to signal commands.

   • When, lo! the king chang’d suddenly his Mind, Casts down his Warder to arrest them there — 1595