call on the carpet

1. Summon for a scolding or rebuke, as in Suspecting a leak to the press, the governor called his press secretary on the carpet. This term began as on the carpet, which in the early 1700s referred to a cloth (carpet) covering a conference table and therefore came to mean “under consideration or discussion.” In 19th-century America, however, carpet meant “floor covering,” and the expression, first recorded in 1902, alluded to being called before or reprimanded by a person rich or powerful enough to have a carpet.

Example Sentences

But, I don’t think that’s what he means, I think he got called on the carpet and I think he got really nervous.

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"Any other defendant might well be called on the carpet for this posting alone."

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“He’s got no history of suspension or being called on the carpet by the league,” Cassidy said.

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We’ve been working on it since that day we got called on the carpet.

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And so last week, he was called on the carpet by lawmakers who suspected he might be helping an unpopular American president undermine a popular American institution to secure reelection.

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Related Words

• advise 
• berate 
• censure 
• chide 
• enjoin 
• exhort 
• rebuke 
• reprimand 
• scold 
• upbraid 
• warn