warp

Definitions


[wɔːp], (Verb)

Definitions:
- make or become bent or twisted out of shape, typically as a result of the effects of heat or damp
(e.g: moisture had warped the box)

- (with reference to a ship) move or be moved along by hauling on a rope attached to a stationary object ashore
(e.g: crew and passengers helped warp the vessels through the shallow section)

- (in weaving) arrange (yarn) so as to form the warp of a piece of cloth
(e.g: cotton string will be warped on the loom in the rug-weaving process)

- cover (land) with a deposit of alluvial soil by natural or artificial flooding
(e.g: the main canal may be cut so as to warp the lands on each side of it)


Phrases:

Origin:
Old English weorpan (verb), wearp (noun), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch werpen and German werfen ‘to throw’. Early verb senses included ‘throw’ and ‘hit with a missile’; the sense ‘bend’ dates from late Middle English. The noun was originally a term in weaving (see warp)


[wɔːp], (Noun)

Definitions:
- a twist or distortion in the shape of something
(e.g: the head of the racket had a curious warp)

- (in weaving) the threads stretched vertically on a loom, over and under which other threads (the weft) are passed to make cloth
(e.g: the warp and weft are the basic constituents of all textiles)

- a rope attached at one end to a fixed point and used for moving or mooring a ship

- alluvial sediment; silt
(e.g: the warp or muddy deposit dug from an old riverbed)


Phrases:

Origin:
Old English weorpan (verb), wearp (noun), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch werpen and German werfen ‘to throw’. Early verb senses included ‘throw’ and ‘hit with a missile’; the sense ‘bend’ dates from late Middle English. The noun was originally a term in weaving (see warp)




definition by Oxford Dictionaries