warrant

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   An official document allowing police to search, seize, or arrest someone.

   The officers could not enter without an arrest warrant from the court.

2. 2
   verb

   To be a good enough reason for something; to justify.

   The emergency does not warrant all of us buying guns.

3. 3
   verb

   To promise or guarantee that something is true or of good quality.

   The dealer warrants every car they sell for one year.

4. 4
   noun

   In finance, a right to buy a company's shares at a set price.

   As a sweetener, they offered warrants along with the bonds.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Warrant entered Middle English from Norman French and shares its ultimate source with guarantee and warranty. Its initial w reflects a characteristic Norman form corresponding to the g found in French garantie.

The noun is derived from Middle English warant (“protector; guard, shield, protection”), from Anglo-Norman warrant, Old Northern French warant, warand, a variant of Old French guarant, garant, garand (“assurance, guarantee; authorization, permission; protector; protection, safety”) (modern French garant), from Frankish *warand, present participle of *warjan (“to fend off; to stop, thwart”). The word is cognate with Old High German werento (“guarantor”). The verb is derived from Middle English warrant, waranten (“to give protection; to protect, shield; to assure, pledge, promise; to guarantee”)…

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