[f. WARP v. + -ING1.]
† 1. The action of throwing. Obs.
a. 1150. in Archiv Stud. neu. Spr., CXVII. 27. Iactura, werpinge.
14[?]. Hist. K. Boccus & Sydracke (? 1510), T j b. And whan the fowle is a lofte … With the warpyng of his wynge He doth the ayre a sondre mynge.
2. The action of preparing a warp for weaving.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 517/1. Warpynge, of webstarys werkynge, staminacio.
c. 1640. J. Smyth, Lives Berkeleys (1883), I. 167. The charges in the wholl manufactory soe particularly in … spoolinge, warpinge, quillinge … and the like.
1788. Burns, ‘My Heart was ance,’ ii. My mither sent me … To warp a plaiden wab; But the weary, weary warpin’ o’t Has gart me sigh and sab.
1878. A. Barlow, Weaving, 63. Warping, therefore, consists in arranging the threads according to number and colour, or in any special manner that may be necessary, and to keep them in their relative places after they have been so laid.
b. concr. = WARP sb. 1. Also in pl., the threads of a warp. ? Obs.
1684. R. Waller, Nat. Exper., 97. From the sides of these shoot out other small Threads close together like feathers, or Palm branches; these are as it were the first warping, and … they proceed shooting and increasing till the Woofe closes all with a total freezing of the Water.
c. 1817. Hogg, Conf. Fanatic, Tales & Sk. (1837), V. 178. My feet had slipped down through the double warpings of a web.
† 3. fig. The action of fabricating or devising, a fabrication. Also gerundial in a-warping (predicatively). Obs.
1583. Melbancke, Philotimus, L j. But the Deuill loues al colliers and thou selflike reasons of thine owne warping.
1603. Holland, Plutarch’s Mor., 497. Lampsace … acquainted the Greeks under-hand with this treason, which was a warping against them.
1814. Cary, Dante, Parad., ix. 50. One Lords it, and bears his head aloft, for whom The web is now a-warping.
4. The action of moving a ship from one place to another by means of warps.
1523. T. Howard, in Lett. & Papers War France (1897), 163. I trust agaynst nyght this W.N.W. wynd will ly, and then we woll forth with warpyng.
1627. Capt. J. Smith, Sea Gram., viii. 35. His Mate [is to haue] the command of the long boat, for … weighing … an anchor, warping, towing, or moring.
1769. Falconer, Dict. Marine (1780), R r 4. Warping is generally used when the sails are unbent, or when they cannot be successfully employed.
1820. Scoresby, Acc. Arctic Reg., I. 310. During five days we persevered in the most laborious exertions, in towing, boring, warping and mill-dolling.
1883. Man. Seamanship Boys, 196. Q. What is warping? A. Transporting a ship from one part of a harbour to another by means of hawsers.
5. The process of flooding low-lying land near a tidal river so that the muddy alluvium may be deposited when the water is withdrawn. Also warping up, the process of filling up hollows by deposit of alluvium.
1799. A. Young, Agric. Lincoln, 284. It is not by the canal that the warping is done, but by a soakage drain on each side of it.
1830. Lyell, Princ. Geol., I. 307. By repeating this operation, which is called ‘warping,’ for two or three years, considerable tracts have been raised, in the estuary of the Humber, to the height of about six feet.
1839. Civil Engin. & Arch. Jrnl., II. 450/1. It was found necessary to encourage the warping up of the old floor pits, by introducing fascine jetty work, which greatly accelerated the deposit of the sea warp.
1879. Cassell’s Techn. Educ., II. 171/2. Warping gives an entirely new surface to soil. It may be best explained as a process by which the suspended mud which occurs in certain rivers is allowed to deposit itself upon a prescribed area of land.
b. concr. The silt or alluvial matter deposited by the sea or a tidal river.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 517/2. Warpynge, of the see or oþer water, alluvium.
6. The action of twisting or bending, or the fact of becoming twisted or bent; an instance of this.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 517/1. Warpynge … of vessel þat wax wronge or avelonge … oblongacio.
1656. Artif. Handsom., 60. Who fears to set straight or hide the unhandsom warpings of bow leggs?
1683. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., Printing, 27. Letter-Boards are … Clamped … to keep them from Warping.
1756–7. trans. Keysler’s Trav. (1760), I. 445. This may be no more than the natural warping of dry wood.
1823. P. Nicholson, Pract. Builder, 221. Casting or Warping, the bending of the surfaces of a piece of wood from their original position.
1873. B. Harte, Fiddletown, 16. The multitudinous small noises, and creakings, and warpings of the vacant house.
1892. Photogr. Ann., II. 53. See that the hinged backs of your frames are clamped, and then defy warping.
b. fig. The action of distorting or perverting from the right course or direction, or the fact of deviating or going astray; an instance of this.
1608. Dod & Cleaver, Expos. Prov. xi.–xii. 168. For the same causes it will appeare that the warping of sinfull courses wil turn to their hurt that imagine them.
1656. Artif. Handsom., 36. The heart is upright, without any sinfull warpings.
1681. Manton, Serm., Ps. cxix. 80 (1725), 413. The old Man is not so put off, but there will be many warpings and deceitful workings still.
1709. G. Stanhope, Paraphrase, IV. 271. If these Bents and Warpings of the Will had destroy’d all Freedom in us.
1782. Burke Corr. (1844), II. 460. These old warpings of the human heart and understanding.
1838. Emerson, Addr., Lit. Ethics, Wks. (Bohn), II. 212. This starting, this warping of the best literary works from the adamant of nature, is especially observable in philosophy.
1873. Spencer, Sociol., xvi. 388. The warping of opinion which the bias of patriotism causes.
1884. Contemp. Rev., XLV. 28. The mischief done by asceticism was the warping of the moral nature of man.
7. Carpentry. A strengthening brace.
1833. Loudon, Encycl. Archit., § 1070. The trevises … to have angle warpings (braces) 4 inches by 1 inch and a half. Ibid., 1212. The trevises … to have angle spars or warpings (diagonal braces) on each side.
8. Rope-making. (See quots.)
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. 113/1. Warping, is the laying of so many Thrids or Rope Yarns together, as will make a Rope.
1794. Rigging & Seamanship, I. 58. Warping is running the yarn off the winches into hauls to be tarred.
9. Angling. The wound thread that attaches the artificial fly to the hook.
1676. Cotton, Angler, II. v. 40. Where the warping ends, pinch or nip it with your thumb nail against your finger, and strip away the remainder of your dubbing from the silk.
1836. Ronalds, Fly-Fisher’s Entom., 31. A little of the dubbing may be left out in the warping, or picked out of the body with a needle, after the winding or warping, to serve for legs instead of the hackle feather.
fig. 1867. R. R. Bealey, in Country Words 23 Feb., 262. We’re nobbut a ‘bundle of habits,’ Teed round wi’ a warpin’ o’ time.
10. attrib. and Comb. a. In collocations concerned with the ‘warping’ of land, as warping bank, clough, cut, district, drain, gutter, hatch, operation, sluice, works. b. In names of machines and parts of machines used in the preliminary process of weaving, as warping-bar, -frame, -jack, -machine, -mill, -wheel, -woof; also warping-room.
1819. Rees, Cycl., *Warping-Banks.
1813. Vancouver, Agric. Devon, 395. A stripe that measures 31 inches … should be laid in the *warping-bars full 29 yards, and contain 1440 threads.
1885. ‘C. E. Craddock,’ Prophet Gt. Smoky Mts., i. 20. The great frame of the warping-bars on one side of the room.
1819. Rees, Cycl., *Warping Clough, Hatch, or Sluice. Ibid., *Warping Cuts, Drains, or Gutters.
1805. R. W. Dickson, Pract. Agric., I. 436. The business being discontinued in the *warping districts during fresh-water floods.
1799. A. Young, Agric. Lincoln, 280. The aforesaid *warping drains to be 18 feet wide at bottom.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. xxi. (Roxb.), 251/1. He beareth Sable, a *warping Frame, Argent.
1835. Ure, Philos. Manuf., 112. Apartments for winding the cotton on the large bobbins used for the warping-frame.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Warping-jack.
1819. Rees, Cycl., s.v. Weaving, The most improved *warping-machines.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 399. The silk is now taken to the *warping-mill.
1882. Mozley, Remin., II. 418. The vast *‘warping’ operations; that is, the reclamation of marshy land irregularly flooded by the Trent.
1871. Daily News, 27 Jan. The carding, winding, and *warping rooms at the west end were preserved.
1799. A. Young, Agric. Lincoln, 279. We should recommend a *warping sluice to be built.
1788. Burns, ‘My Heart was ance,’ iv. I sat beside my *warpin’ wheel.
1891. Labour Commission, Gloss., *Warping woof (or bars).
1799. A. Young, Agric. Lincoln, 278. The first *warping works which I viewed were at Morton Ferry.
c. Special comb.: warping-block, a block used by rope-makers in warping off yarn; warping-buoy, a buoy used in warping a vessel; † warping-fat [cf. WARPFAT], ? = warping-trough; warping-hook, an iron hook for hanging the yarn on when warping into hauls for tarring; warping-post, a strong post used in warping rope-yarn; † warping-stock, † -tree, ? = prec.; warping-trough (see quot.).
1794. Rigging & Seamanship, I. 157. *Warping-block.
1875. Bedford, Sailor’s Pocket Bk., v. (ed. 2), 137. All *warping buoys are coloured white.
14[?]. Lat.-Eng. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 577/11. Cupatorium, a *worpynfat.
1565. Burgh Rec. Prestwick (Maitl. Club), 69. Ane warpene fat, price xijs.
1815. Falconer’s Dict. Marine (ed. Burney), *Warping-Hook.
1797. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), XVI. 486/1. The other block … is fixed to a firm post, called the *warping post.
1404. Nottingham Rec., II. 22. j. *warpyngstok et *warpyngtree.
1588. in Aston’s Manch. Guide (1804), 24. A warpinge stocke with ryngs and yarne in yt, 00 02 06.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. 346/1. He beareth Sable, a Weavers *Warping Trough, Or;… The Weavers Trough is that in which he puts his Clews of Yarn, when he runs them off for Warping.
