A keeping; a guarding; care, watch, inspection, for keeping, preservation or security. Under the custody and charge of the sons of Merari shall be the boards of the tabernacle. Numbers 3:36. The prisoner was committed to the custody of the sheriff.

Imprisonment; confinement; restraint of liberty.

Defense from a foe; preservation; security. There was prepared a fleet of thirty ships for the custody of the narrow seas.