Weorpan

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. An Old English verb meaning to throw, hurl or cast something through the air with the hand or arm
2. The Old English word for hurling or casting an object forward, the ancestor of the modern English verb to throw
3. A verb from Old English denoting the action of propelling an object by a swift motion of the arm

Etymology: Old English "weorpan" meant "to throw" or "to cast," and it is the ancestor of modern "warp." Its past forms, "wearp" and "worpen," show the strong verb pattern that English later mostly lost. The word's core idea of hurling or casting survives in the older senses of "warp," such as casting a fishing line or throwing something aside, though the familiar meanings are now twisting and bending. The modern sense grew from that same motion. A thing that is thrown or pushed can end up bent out of shape, so by the Middle English period "warpen" had come to mean to twist or distort. The weaving term "warp," the set of threads stretched lengthwise on a loom, is related, since those threads are held taut and then crossed by the weft. Despite the similar sound, "throw" comes from a different Old English verb, "thrāwan."