warrant
n. countablen. an official document, signed by a judge, that gives the police permission to do something, like arrest someone or search a place.
n. a legal document issued by a judicial officer that authorises a law enforcement official to perform a specific act, such as making an arrest or conducting a search.
The police have a warrant for his arrest.
The judge issued a search warrant allowing officers to enter the suspect's home.
Without sufficient probable cause, the magistrate refused to sign the warrant, citing concerns about protecting the individual's rights against unreasonable searches.
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”), from Anglo-Norman warantir, warandir, warentir, and Old Northern French warandir, warantir, variant forms of Old French guarantir (“to protect”) (modern French garantir), a Romance formation from the noun guarant: see above.
The police had a warranty for his arrest.The police had a warrant for his arrest.Learners may confuse 'warrant' (a legal document) with 'warranty' (a product guarantee).