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.
- 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.
- 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.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- 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.
- transitive verb (Rope Making) To run off the reel into hauls to be tarred, as yarns.
- transitive verb (Weaving) To arrange (yarns) on a warp beam.
- transitive verb (Aëronautics) To twist the end surfaces of (an aërocurve in an airfoil) in order to restore or maintain equilibrium.
- transitive verb (Geom.) a surface generated by a straight line moving so that no two of its consecutive positions shall be in the same plane.
- intransitive verb To turn, twist, or be twisted out of shape; esp., to be twisted or bent out of a flat plane.
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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II. vii.187 (275,6) [Tho 'thou the waters warp] To _warp_ was probably, in Shakespeare's time, a colloquial word, which conveyed no distant allusion to any thing else, physical or medicinal.
Notes to Shakespeare — Volume 01: Comedies Samuel Johnson 1746
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They are then called upon to "weave the warp, and weave the woof," perhaps, with no great propriety; for it is by crossing the _woof_ with the _warp_ that men _weave_ the _web_ or piece; and the first line was dearly bought by the admission of its wretched correspondent, "give ample room and verge enough [198]."
The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. in Nine Volumes Volume the Eighth: The Lives of the Poets, Volume II Samuel Johnson 1746
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'are called upon to "Weave the warp, and weave the woof," perhaps with no great propriety; for it is by crossing the _woof_ with the _warp_ that men weave the _web_ or piece; and the first line was dearly bought by the admission of its wretched correspondent, "Give ample room and verge enough."
Life of Johnson, Volume 2 1765-1776 James Boswell 1767
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And at that time they were going up to what they called the warp mill.
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They had what they called a warp mill donw there in the old mill, and you spooled, run the thread on big old spools, they called them.
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And at that time they were going up to what they called the warp mill.
Oral History Interview with Flossie Moore Durham, 1976 September 2. Interview H-66. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007). By Flossie Moore Durham Flossie Moore Durham 1976
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And now we expect Obama to work a miracle and get us out of this in warp speed ... not going to happen.
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If credibility warp is about stimulation, determinacy warp is about the frustration of not having the whole story, not knowing everything.
Modality and Hamlet Hal Duncan 2010
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Even without quirks, credibility warp is introduced here; the narrative is itself a quirk, asserting an incredible status as a narrative of the beyond.
Archive 2009-12-01 Hal Duncan 2009
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This collection of stereotypes reads like it fell through a time warp from a couple of decades ago.
hernesheir commented on the word warp
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
MaryW commented on the word warp
Nautical sense:
Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island (1883), ch. 13February 10, 2019