garde

a watch, guard; a battalion responsible for guarding, defending a sovereign, a prince, more generally, of an elite corps.; sentry service performed by soldiers.; soldiers doing the sentry service; any person who performs regular service on a rotating basis.

Inherited from Old French guarde, from the verb guarder (or less likely directly from Frankish *warda), from Frankish *wardōn (“to protect”). Compare Italian guardia, Spanish guarda. Cognate with English ward.

a handle (of a weapon); a protection (act of protecting)

Deverbal from garder.