warp

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
warp/wɔːp/

▶verb

• 1 make or become bent or twisted out of shape, typically from the action of heat or damp.

  ■ make abnormal; distort.

• 2 (with reference to a ship) move or be moved along by hauling on a rope attached to a stationary object ashore.

• 3 arrange (yarn) so as to form the warp of a piece of cloth.

• 4 cover (land) with a deposit of alluvial soil by flooding.

▶noun

• 1 a distortion or twist in shape.

• 2 the lengthwise threads on a loom over and under which the weft threads are passed to make cloth.

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

• 4 archaic alluvial sediment.

– derivatives
warpage noun,
warper noun.

– origin OE (early senses included ‘throw’ and ‘hit’) weorpan (v.), wearp (n.), of Gmc origin.