Definition of "guardship" [guard•ship]

• Care; protection (noun)

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• "The following year she moved to the guardship Royal Sovereign, then decided to serve an apprenticeship as a shipwright, which she managed despite hard work and awful difficulties, with the help of her multitude of friends many of whom were girlfriends, with whom she had lighthearted and probably lesbian relationships."
• "There it stands, apart from the town, beside the pier, in a climate of its own, half inland, half marine — in front the ferry bubbling with the tide and the guardship swinging to her anchor; behind, the old garden with the trees."
• "In the roadstead of Macassar there was a fine 42-gun frigate, the guardship of the place, as well as a small war steamer and three or four little cutters used for cruising after the pirates which infest these seas."