warp
- to bend or twist out of shape, especially from a straight or flat form, as timbers or flooring.
- to bend or turn from the natural or true direction or course.
- to distort or cause to distort from the truth, fact, true meaning, etc.; bias; falsify: Prejudice warps the mind.
- Aeronautics. to curve or bend (a wing or other airfoil) at the end or ends to promote equilibrium or to secure lateral control.
- Nautical. to move (a vessel) into a desired place or position by hauling on a rope that has been fastened to something fixed, as a buoy or anchor.
- Agriculture. to fertilize (land) by inundation with water that deposits alluvial matter.
- to become bent or twisted out of shape, especially out of a straight or flat form: The wood has warped in drying.
- to be or become biased; hold or change an opinion due to prejudice, external influence, or the like.
- Nautical.
- to warp a ship or boat into position.
- (of a ship or boat) to move by being warped.
- (of a stratum in the earth's crust) to bend slightly, to a degree that no fold or fault results.
- a bend, twist, or variation from a straight or flat form in something, as in wood that has dried unevenly.
- a mental twist, bias, or quirk, or a biased or twisted attitude or judgment.
- the set of yarns placed lengthwise in the loom, crossed by and interlaced with the weft, and forming the lengthwise threads in a woven fabric.
- time warp.
- a situation, environment, etc., that seems characteristic of another era, especially in being out of touch with contemporary life or attitudes, etc.
- Also called spring, spring line. Nautical. a rope for warping or hauling a ship or boat along or into position.
- alluvial matter deposited by water, especially water let in to inundate low land so as to enrich it.
Origin of warp
Synonyms
See more synonyms for warp on Thesaurus.comAntonyms
Examples from the Web for warping
Historical Examples
There was a tremendous thump and the warping of the very universe about them all.
Wanderer of InfinityHarl Vincent
These extra pieces are a help to stiffen the top and to keep it from warping.
Handwork in WoodWilliam Noyes
They are inconvenient for warping, and generally fitted with rollers.
The Sailor's Word-BookWilliam Henry Smyth
A block made of ash or elm, used in rope-making for warping off yarn.
The Sailor's Word-BookWilliam Henry Smyth
Warping or dragging them into shallow water had now to be commenced.
Michael PenguyneWilliam H. G. Kingston
warp
- to twist or cause to twist out of shape, as from heat, damp, etc
- to turn or cause to turn from a true, correct, or proper course
- to pervert or be perverted
- (tr) to prepare (yarn) as a warp
- nautical to move (a vessel) by hauling on a rope fixed to a stationary object ashore or (of a vessel) to be moved thus
- (tr) (formerly) to curve or twist (an aircraft wing) in order to assist control in flight
- (tr) to flood (land) with water from which alluvial matter is deposited
- the state or condition of being twisted out of shape
- a twist, distortion, or bias
- a mental or moral deviation
- the yarns arranged lengthways on a loom, forming the threads through which the weft yarns are woven
- the heavy threads used to reinforce the rubber in the casing of a pneumatic tyre
- nautical a rope used for warping a vessel
- alluvial sediment deposited by water
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for warping
warp
n.
"threads running lengthwise in a fabric," Old English wearp-, from Proto-Germanic *warpo- (cf. Middle Low German warp, Old High German warf "warp," Old Norse varp "cast of a net"), from root *werp- (see warp (v.)). The warp of fabric is that across which the woof is "thrown." Applied in 20c. astrophysics to the "fabric" of space-time, popularized in noun phrase warp speed by 1960s TV series "Star Trek."
warp
v.
"to bend, twist, distort," Old English weorpan "to throw, throw away, hit with a missile," from Proto-Germanic *werpanan "to fling by turning the arm" (cf. Old Saxon werpan, Old Norse verpa "to throw," Swedish värpa "to lay eggs," Old Frisian werpa, Middle Low German and Dutch werpen, German werfen, Gothic wairpan "to throw"), from PIE *werb- "to turn, bend" (cf. Latin verber "whip, rod;" Greek rhabdos "rod," rhombos "magic wheel"), from root *wer- (3) "to turn, bend" (see versus). Connection between "turning" and "throwing" is perhaps in the notion of rotating the arm in the act of throwing; cf. Serbo-Croatian obratiti, Old Church Slavonic vreshti "to throw." The meaning "twist out of shape" is first recorded c.1400; intransitive sense is from mid-15c. Related: Warped; warping.
Idioms and Phrases with warping
warp
In addition to the idiom beginning with warp
- warp and woof
also see:
- time warp