carpet

[kahr-pit] /ˈkɑr pɪt/

noun

a heavy fabric, commonly of wool or nylon, for covering floors.

a covering of this material.

any relatively soft surface or covering like a carpet:

They walked on the carpet of grass.

any of a number of airborne electronic devices for jamming radar.

a system of such devices.

verb (used with object)

to cover or furnish with or as with a carpet.

Chiefly British. to reprimand.

Idioms

on the carpet,

before an authority or superior for an accounting of one's actions or a reprimand:
He was called on the carpet again for his carelessness.
Chiefly British. under consideration or discussion.

Origin

1300-50; Middle English carpete cloth covering for a table, floor, bed, etc. < Middle French carpite or Medieval Latin carpīta < Italian carpita woolen bedspread < Vulgar Latin *carpīta, past participle of carpīre, for Latin carpere to pluck, card (wool)

Related forms

carpetless, adjective

carpetlike, adjective

recarpet, verb (used with object)

uncarpeted, adjective

well-carpeted, adjective

Examples from the web for carpet

Babies crawl on the floor and get exposed to far more bugs on carpet than they do on vinyl.
Today, mile after mile of newly planted vineyards carpet the valley floor.
The sluice is lined with heavy synthetic matting, similar to indoor-outdoor carpet.
The region in which someone can hear the boom is called the boom carpet.
Then, without warning, she abandoned her chair for the carpet and began addressing the dogs themselves from her knees.
And it was the look in their eyes that made me lose my grip and let his body drop onto the carpet.
The hallway outside the bathroom was padded with dusty green carpet.
They don't leave inextricable artifacts in your living room carpet's fibers.
She had her husband, too, who kept her at ends as loose as carpet fringe.
Plastic bags carpet much of the developing world because locals do not know how to turn them into anything else.

British Dictionary definitions for carpet

carpet

/ˈkɑːpɪt/

noun

a heavy fabric for covering floors
(as modifier): a carpet sale

a covering like a carpet: a carpet of leaves

(informal) on the carpet

before authority to be reproved for misconduct or error
under consideration

verb (transitive) -pets, -peting, -peted

to cover with or as if with a carpet

(informal) to reprimand

Word Origin

C14: from Old French carpite, from Old Italian carpita, from Late Latin carpeta, literally: (wool) that has been carded, from Latin carpere to pluck, card

Word Origin and History for carpet

late 13c., "coarse cloth;" mid-14c., "tablecloth, bedspread;" from Old French carpite "heavy decorated cloth, carpet," from Medieval Latin or Old Italian carpita "thick woolen cloth," probably from Latin carpere "to card, pluck," probably so called because it was made from unraveled, shreded, "plucked" fabric; from PIE *kerp- "to gather, pluck, harvest" (see harvest (n.)). Meaning shifted 15c. to floor coverings.

From 16c.-19c. as an adjective often with a tinge of contempt, when used of men (e.g. carpet-knight, 1570s) by association with luxury, ladies' boudoirs, and drawing rooms. On the carpet "summoned for reprimand" is 1900, U.S. colloquial (but cf. carpet (v.) "call (someone) to be reprimanded," 1823, British servants' slang). To sweep or push something under the carpet in the figurative sense is first recorded 1953.

"to cover with a carpet," 1620s, from carpet (n.). Meaning "call to reprimand" is from 1840. Related: Carpeted; carpeting.

Slang definitions & phrases for carpet

carpet

Idioms and Phrases with carpet

carpet

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