a circle of the Russian government of Kostroma, extending in north latitude from 56° 48' to 57° 33', and in east longitude from 43° 59' to 46° 12'. It is a poor and barren district, thinly inhabited, and scarcely yielding WARF, in the manufactures, a name for the threads, whether of silk, wool, linen, hemp, &c. that are extended lengthwise on the weaver's loom; and across which the weaver, by means of his shuttle, passes the threads of the warp, to form a cloth, ribbon, fustian, or the like.

WARF, a small rope employed occasionally to remove a vessel from one place to another, in a port, road, or river.

Hence,

WARF, is to change the situation of a ship, by pulling her from one part of a harbour, &c. to some other, by means of warps, which are attached to buoys, to anchors sunk in the bottom, or to certain stations upon the shore, as posts, trees, trees, &c. The ship is accordingly drawn forwards to those stations, either by pulling on the warps by hand, or by the application of some purchase, as a tackle, windlass, or capstan, upon her deck. When this operation is performed by the ship's lesser anchors, these machines, together with their warps, are carried out in the boats alternately towards the place where the ship is endeavouring to arrive; so that when she is drawn up close to one anchor, another is carried out to a competent distance before her, being sunk, serves to fix the other warp, by which she is further advanced. Warping is generally used when the sea is unkind, or when they cannot be successfully employed, which may either arise from the unfavourable state of the wind, the opposition of the tide, or the narrow limits of the channel.