Emily Dickinson Lexicon

WAR'RANT, v.t. [Gaelic, barantas, a warrant or pledge; baranta, a warrantee or surety; W. gwarantu, to warrant or guaranty; gwarant, warrant, attestation, authority, security; said to be from gwar, smooth, placid, secure; Norm. garranty, warranted, proved; garren, (guarren,) a warren; Fr. garantir, (guarantir,) to warrant; garenne, a warren; It. guarentire. This is from the root of guard, warren and wary. The primary sense of the root is to stop or hold, or to repel, and thus guard by resisting danger; as we say, to keep off. Hence the sense of security. The Welsh sense of smooth, placid, is derivative, either from security, or from repressing. See Guard and Garrison.]

1. To authorize; to give authority or power to do or forbear any thing, by which the person authorized is secured or, saved harmless from any loss or damage by the act. A commission warrants an officer to seize an enemy. We are not warranted to resist legitimate government, except in extreme cases.
2. To maintain; to support by authority or proof. Reason warrants it, and we may safely receive it as true. – Anon.
3. To justify. True fortitude is seen in great exploits, / That justice warrants, and that wisdom guides. – Addison.
4. To secure; to exempt; to privilege. I'll warrant him from drowning. – Shak. In a place / Less warranted than this, or less secure, / I can not be. – Milton.
5. To declare with assurance. My neck is as smooth as silk, I warrant ye. – L'Estrange.
6. In law, to secure to a grantee an estate granted; to assure.
7. To secure to a purchaser of goods the title to the same; or to indemnify him against loss.
8. To secure to a purchaser the good quality of the goods sold. [See Warranty.]
9. To assure that a thing is what it appears to be, which implies a covenant to make good any defect or loss incurred by it.