What does "warp" mean?
Warp: To turn or twist out of shape; esp., to twist or bend out of a flat plane by contraction or otherwise. The planks looked warped. Coleridge. Walter warped his mouth at this To something so mock solemn, that I laughed. Tennyson.
Additional senses
- 2.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.
- 3.To weave; to fabricate. [R. & Poetic.] Nares. While doth he mischief warp. Sternhold.
- 4.(Naut.) To tow or move, as a vessel, with a line, or warp, attached to a buoy, anchor, or other fixed object.
- 5.To cast prematurely, as young; -- said of cattle, sheep, etc. [Prov. Eng.]
- 6.(Agric.) To let the tide or other water in upon (lowlying land), for the purpose of fertilization, by a deposit of warp, or slimy substance. [Prov. Eng.]
- 7.(Rope Making) To run off the reel into hauls to be tarred, as yarns.
- 8.(Weaving) To arrange (yarns) on a warp beam. Warped surface (Geom.), a surface generated by a straight line moving so that no two of its consecutive positions shall be in the same plane. Davies & Peck.
- 9.To turn, twist, or be twisted out of shape; esp., to be twisted or bent out of a flat plane; as, a board warps in seasoning or shrinking. One of you will prove a shrunk 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.
- 10.to turn or incline from a straight, true, or proper course; to deviate; to swerve. There is our commission, From which we would not have you warp. Shak.
- 11.To fly with a bending or waving motion; to turn and wave, like a flock of birds or insects. A pitchy cloud Of locusts, warping on the eastern wind. Milton.
- 12.To cast the young prematurely; to slink; -- said of cattle, sheep, etc. [Prov. Eng.]
- 13.(Weaving) To wind yarn off bobbins for forming the warp of a web; to wind a warp on a warp beam.
- 14.(Weaving) The threads which are extended lengthwise in the loom, and crossed by the woof.
- 15.(Naut.) A rope used in hauling or moving a vessel, usually with one end attached to an anchor, a post, or other fixed object; a towing line; a warping hawser.
- 16.(Agric.) A slimy substance deposited on land by tides, etc., by which a rich alluvial soil is formed. Lyell.
- 17.A premature casting of young; -- said of cattle, sheep, etc. [Prov. Eng.]
- 18.Four; esp., four herrings; a cast. See Cast, n., 17. [Prov. Eng.] Wright.
- 19.Etym: [From Warp, v.] The state of being warped or twisted; as, the warp of a board. Warp beam, the roller on which the warp is wound in a loom. -- Warp fabric, fabric produced by warp knitting. -- Warp frame, or Warp-net frame, a machine for making warp lace having a number of needles and employing a thread for each needle. -- Warp knitting, a kind of knitting in which a number of threads are interchained each with one or more contiguous threads on either side; -- also called warp weaving. -- Warp lace, or Warp net, lace having a warp crossed by weft threads.
Sources
- Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
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- Published: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00 · Modified: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00