warp, warpe

[A. S. wearp =a warp, from wearp, pa. t. of weorpan =to throw, to cast; cogn. with Icel. varp =a casting, a throwing, from varp, pa. t. of verpa = to throw; Dan. varp = a warp (naut.); Sw. arp; O. H. Ger. warf, from warf, pa. t. of werfen =to throw; Ger. werfte.] *I. Ordinary Language : 1. In the same sense as II. 3. 2. The state of being warped or twisted; the twist of wool in drying. "Your hair wove into many a curious warp." Beaum. & Flet.: Faithful Shepherde , ii. 3. Young prematurely cast, as a colt, a calf, a lamb, . (Prov.) 4. Four of fish, especially of herrings; hence, applied to four of anything. ( Prov .) "Not a warpe of weeks forerunning."-Nashe: Lenten Stuffe. II. Technically: 1. Agriculture: (1) An irrigating proce to cover the land with alluvial sediment; an alluvial deposit of water artificially introduced into low lands. (Sometimes used attributively.) (2) ( Pl .): Distinct pieces of plowed land separated by the furrows. ( Hall i well .) 2. Geology: The alluvial sediment deposited by rivers, and which is used for the purpose described under II. 1. "The sediment called warp , which subsides from the muddy water of the Humber and other rivers."-Lyell: Princ. of Geology , ch. xix. 3. Naut .: A rope smaller than a cable. It is used in towing, or in moving a ship by attachment to an anchor or post. "As we shorted vpon ye said warpe the anker came home." -Hackluyt : Voyages, i. 277. 4. Weaving : The threads running the long way of a fabric. The threads of the warp are wound on the warp-beam, and are carried up and down by the heddles of the harne , forming a track called the shed, along which the shuttle flies, leaving the weft, woof, or filling, as it is variously called. The warp is known also as the twist or the chain, and in silk as organzine.