Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To turn or twist (wood, for example) out of shape; deform.
  • intransitive verb To alter from a normal, proper, or healthy state; twist or pervert: synonym: distort.
  • intransitive verb To arrange strands of yarn or thread lengthwise onto (a loom) in preparation for weaving.
  • intransitive verb Nautical To move (a vessel) by hauling on a line that is fastened to or around a piling, anchor, or pier.
  • intransitive verb To become bent or twisted out of shape.
  • intransitive verb To become altered from what is normal, proper, or healthy.
  • intransitive verb Nautical To move a vessel by hauling on a line that is fastened to or around a piling, anchor, or pier.
  • noun The state of being twisted or bent out of shape.
  • noun A distortion or twist, especially in a piece of wood.
  • noun A mental or moral twist, aberration, or deviation.
  • noun The threads that run lengthwise in a woven fabric, crossed at right angles to the woof.
  • noun Warp and woof.
  • noun Nautical A towline used in warping a vessel.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A throw; a cast.
  • noun Hence, a cast of herrings, haddocks, or other fish; four, as a tale of counting fish.
  • noun A cast lamb, kid, calf, foal, or the like; the young of an animal when brought forth prematurely.
  • noun The sediment which subsides from turbid water; the alluvial deposit of muddy water artificially introduced into low lands in order to enrich or fertilize them.
  • noun A cast or twist; the twist or bending which occurs in wood in drying; the state of having a cast, or of being warped or twisted.
  • noun The threads which are extended lengthwise in a loom, and across which the woof is thrown in the process of weaving.
  • noun Nautical, a rope, smaller than a cable, used in towing, or in moving a ship by attachment to something fixed; a towing-line.
  • To cast; throw; hurl.
  • To utter; ejaculate; enunciate; give utterance to.
  • To bring forth (young) prematurely: said of cattle, sheep, horses, etc.
  • In rope-making, to run (the yarn of the winches) into hauls to be tarred. See haul of yarn, under haul.
  • To weave; hence, in a figurative sense, to fabricate; plot.
  • To give a cast or twist to; turn or twist out of shape or out of straightness, as by unequal contraction, etc.; contort.
  • To turn aside from the true direction; cause to bend or incline; pervert.
  • Nautical, to move into some desired place or position by hauling on a rope or warp which has been fastened to something fixed, as a buoy, anchor, or other ship at or near that place or position: as, to warp a ship into harbor or to her berth.
  • In agriculture, to fertilize, as poor or barren land, by means of artificial inundation from rivers which hold large quantities of earthy matter, or warp (see warp, n., 4), in suspension.
  • To change.
  • To turn, twist, or be twisted out of straightness or the proper shape.
  • To turn or incline from a straight, true, or proper course; deviate; swerve.
  • To change for the worse; turn in a wrong direction.
  • To weave; hence, to plot.
  • To fly with a twisting or bending to this side and that; deflect the course of flight; turn about in flying, as birds or insects.
  • To wind yarn off bobbins, to form the warp of a web. See the quotation.
  • To slink; cast the young prematurely, as cows.
  • Nautical, to work forward by means of a rope fastened to something fixed, as in moving from one berth to another in a harbor, or in making one's way out of a harbor in a calm, or against a contrary wind.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To turn, twist, or be twisted out of shape; esp., to be twisted or bent out of a flat plane.
  • intransitive verb to turn or incline from a straight, true, or proper course; to deviate; to swerve.
  • intransitive verb To fly with a bending or waving motion; to turn and wave, like a flock of birds or insects.
  • intransitive verb Prov. Eng. To cast the young prematurely; to slink; -- said of cattle, sheep, etc.
  • intransitive verb (Weaving) To wind yarn off bobbins for forming the warp of a web; to wind a warp on a warp beam.
  • transitive verb obsolete To throw; hence, to send forth, or throw out, as words; to utter.
  • transitive verb To turn or twist out of shape; esp., to twist or bend out of a flat plane by contraction or otherwise.
  • transitive verb To turn aside from the true direction; to cause to bend or incline; to pervert.
  • transitive verb R. & Poetic. To weave; to fabricate.
  • transitive verb (Naut.) To tow or move, as a vessel, with a line, or warp, attached to a buoy, anchor, or other fixed object.
  • transitive verb Prov. Eng. To cast prematurely, as young; -- said of cattle, sheep, etc.
  • transitive verb (Agric.), Prov. Eng. To let the tide or other water in upon (lowlying land), for the purpose of fertilization, by a deposit of warp, or slimy substance.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English werpen, from Old English weorpan, to throw away; see wer- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English warp, werp, from Old English wearp, warp ("a warp, threads stretched lengthwise in a loom, twig, osier"), from Proto-Germanic *warpaz (“a warp”), from Proto-Indo-European *werb- (“to turn, bend”). Cognate with Middle Dutch warp, Middle Low German warp, German Warf, Danish varp, Swedish varp.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English werpen, weorpen, worpen, from Old English weorpan ("to throw, cast, cast down, cast away, throw off, throw out, expel, throw upon, throw open, drive away, sprinkle, hit, hand over, lay hands on (a person), cast lots, charge with, accuse of"), from Proto-Germanic *werpanan (“to throw, turn”), from Proto-Indo-European *werb- (“to bend, turn”). Cognate with Scots warp ("to throw, warp"), North Frisian werpen ("to throw"), Dutch werpen ("to throw, cast"), German werfen ("to throw, cast"), Icelandic verpa ("to throw").

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Examples

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  • To lay eggs. A hen warps and warys. --Provincial terms from the north of England. In Lancashire, wary meant to curse, from Anglo-Saxon warian, werigan, to curse or execrate.

    May 17, 2011

  • Nautical sense:

    We had a dreary morning's work before us, for there was no sign of any wind, and the boats had to be got out and manned and the ship warped three or four miles round the corner of the island and up the narrow passage to the haven behind Skeleton Island.
    Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island (1883), ch. 13

    February 10, 2019