Warp | Webster's Dictionary (1865)

Warp, v. i.

verbintransitive

[imp. & p. p. WARPED (warpt); p. pr. & vb. n. WARPING.] [A-S. weorpan, werþan, wyrpan, wūrpan, to throw, to cast, O. Sax. werpan, O. Fries. werpa, hwerpa, D. & L. Ger. werpen, Goth. vairpan, Icel. varpa, verpa, Sw. varpa, värpa, Dan. varpe, värpe, O. H. Ger. werfan, M. & N. H. Ger. werfen.]

Sense 1. To turn, twist, or be twisted out of a straight direction, as a board in seasoning or by shrinking.

One of you will prove a shrunken panel, and, like green timber, warp, warp. Shak.

They clamp one piece of wood to the end of another, to keep it from casting, or warping. Moxon.

Sense 2. To turn or incline from a straight, true, or proper course; to deviate; to swerve.

There's our commission, From which we would not have you warp. Shak.

Methinks My favor here begins to warp. Shak.

Sense 3. To fly with a bending or waving motion; to turn and wave, like a flock of birds or insects.

As when the potent rod Of Amram's son, in Egypt's evil day, Waved round the coast, up called a pitchy cloud Of locusts, warping on the eastern wind. Milton.

Sense 4. To cast the young prematurely; to slink;—said of cattle, sheep, and the like. [Prov. Eng.]

Warp, v. t.

verbtransitive

v. t. 1. To send forth or throw out, as words; to utter; to pronounce. [Obs.] Piers Plowman. 2. To turn or twist out of shape, or out of a straight direction, by contraction or otherwise. The planks looked warped. Coleridge. Walter warped his mouth at this To something so mock-solemn, that I laughed. Tennyson. 3. To turn aside from the true direction; to cause to bend or incline; to pervert. “This first avowed, nor folly warped my mind.” Dryden. I have no private considerations to warp me in this controversy. Addison. We are divested of all those passions which cloud the intellects, and warp the understandings, of men. Southey. 4. To weave. [Rare and poet.] Nares. Why doth he mischief warp? Sternhold.

(Naut.) To tow or move with, as a vessel, a line or warp attached to buoys, to anchors, or the like.
To cast prematurely, as young;—said of cattle, sheep, and the like. [Prov. Eng.]
(Agric.) To let the tide in or upon for the purpose of fertilizing by a deposit of warp or slimy substance. [Prov. Eng.]
(Rope-making.) To run off the reel into hauls to be tarred, as yarns.

Warped surface (Geom.), a surface which may be generated by a straight line moving so that no two of its consecutive positions shall be in the same plane. Math. Dict.

Warp, n.

noun

n. [A-S. wearp, Icel. & Sw. warp, O. H. Ger. waraf, M. H. Ger. warf, Prov. H. Ger. werft. See infra.] 1. (Weaving.) The threads which are extended lengthwise in the loom, and crossed by the woof. 2. (Naut.) A rope attached at one end to an anchor, a post, or other object, employed in drawing, towing, or removing a ship or boat; a towing-line; a warping-hawser. 3. (Agric.) A slimy substance deposited on land by marine tides, by which a rich alluvial soil is formed. Lyell. 4. A premature casting of young;—said of cattle, sheep, and the like. [Prov. Eng.] 5. Four herrings. [Prov. Eng.] Simmonds.

Warp, n.

noun

n. The state of being warped or twisted; as, the warp of a board.