, slings,
&c.--_To warp._ To move a vessel from one place to another by warps,
which are attached to buoys, to other ships, to anchors, or to certain
fixed objects on shore. Also, to flood the lands near rivers in
Yorkshire.

WARPING AND FRAMING THE TIMBERS. Putting in the beam-knees, coamings,
&c., and dividing the spaces between the beams for fitting the carlines.

WARPING-BLOCK. A block made of ash or elm, used in rope-making for
warping off yarn.

WARRANT. A writ of authority, inferior to a commission; in former
days it was the name given to the deed conferring power on those
officers appointed by the navy board, while those granted by the
admiralty were styled commissions. Also, a document, under proper
authority, for the assembling of a court-martial, punishment,
execution, &c. Also, a tabulated regulation for cutting standing
and running rigging, as well as for supply of general stores, as
warranted by the admiralty.--_Brown-paper warrants._ Those given
by a captain, and which he can cancel.

WARRANT-OFFICER. Generally one holding his situation from particular
boards, or persons authorized by the sovereign to grant it. In the royal
navy it was an officer holding a warrant from the navy board, as the
master, surgeon, purser, boatswain, gunner, carpenter, &c. In the year
1831, when the commissioners of the navy, or navy board, were abolished,
all these powers reverted to the admiralty, but the commissions and
warrants remain in effect the same.

WARRANTY. The contract of marine insurance, expressing a certain
condition on the part of the insured, upon which the contract is to take
effect; it is always a part of the written policy, and must appear on
the face of it. In this it differs from _representation_ (which see).

WARREN-HEAD. A northern term for a dam across a river.

WAR-SCOT. A contribution for the supply of arms and armour, in the time
of the Saxons.

WAR-SHIP. Any ship equipped for offence and defence; whereas
_man-of-war_ generally signifies a vessel belonging to the royal navy.

WARTAKE. An archaic term for a rope-fast, or spring. In that early
sea-song (_temp._ Henry VI.) which is in the library of Trinity College,
Cambridge, the skipper of the ship carrying a cargo of "pylgryms"
exclaims, "Hale in the wartake!"

WARTH. An old word signifying a ford. Also, a flat meadow close to a
stream.

WASH. An accumulation of silt in estuaries. Also, a surface covered by
floods. Also, a shallow inle