Obs. Also 5 werre, 6 war. [repr. OE. wearr str. masc., recorded only in the sense ‘callosity’; but cf. wearriht full of callosities, also of a tree, knotty (see WARRIED a.). Cf. Flem. warre fem., weer masc., callosity, knot in wood.] A knot in a tree or in timber.
[c. 725. Corpus Gloss. (Hessels), C 161. Callos weorras uel ill.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., I. 356. Ða wearras and ða swylas ðe beoð on mannes handum oððe on oðrum limum.]
c. 1407. Lydg., Reson & Sens., 5428. The tother [bow] … Ful of knottys and of skarrys, The tymber is so ful of warrys.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 516/2. Warre, or knobbe of a tre, vertex.
1483. Cath. Angl., 409/1. A Werre [Addit. MS. Warre] of a tree, vertex.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, XII. xii. 212. Bot festynnit sa is in the war the grip That by na maner fors … Furth of the stok the schaft vp pull he mycht.
1530. Palsgr., 287/1. Warre or knobbe of a tree, neu.
Hence † Warred a. having knots. (Cf. WARRIED a.)
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., V. lvii. (1495), l iij b/1. The ouer endes of the bones … ben warryd wyth grete knottes. Ibid., XVII. xx. O ij/2. Boxe growyth in hote places and stony and is therfore harde and sadly warrid [Tollemache MS. warred].
