carpet

[kahr-pit]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR carpet ON THESAURUS.COM

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 of carpet

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 formscar·pet·less, adjectivecar·pet·like, adjectivere·car·pet, verb (used with object)un·car·pet·ed, adjectivewell-car·pet·ed, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for carpet

tapestry, rug, carpeting, runner, wall-to-wall

Examples from the Web for carpet

Contemporary Examples of carpet

The carpet is stained from the door to the window with red wine.
I Watched a Casino Kill Itself: The Awful Last Nights of Atlantic City’s Taj Mahal
Olivia Nuzzi
December 8, 2014
His father, Hassan, is a carpet merchant with close relations to senior members of the conservative Islamic Coalition Party.
Iran’s Blogfather Walks Free After Six Years in Jail
IranWire
November 21, 2014
And it is a situation impossible to brush under the carpet because the Confederacy transformed the Union.
One U.S. Constitution Just Wasn’t Enough
Tom Arnold-Forster
July 4, 2014
But Friday morning, the monthly jobs report dumped a steaming pile of caution on the carpet.
The December Jobs Report Is Drunk
Daniel Gross
January 10, 2014
The fact that Israel gets called on the carpet so often is wrapped in a multitude of sometimes contradictory factors.
Yes, Virginia, There is Anti-Israel Bias at the U.N.
Emily L. Hauser
August 19, 2013

Historical Examples of carpet

He didn't see that she was perspiring, worn out by her struggle with the carpet.
Life and Death of Harriett Frean
May Sinclair
The carpet was soft and rich; it gave back no sound of footfall.
Ester Ried Yet Speaking
Isabella Alden
Convalescents who were able to walk flapped along in carpet slippers.
K
Mary Roberts Rinehart
On the steps, a carpet, thick and heavy, muffled his footfalls.
The Black Bag
Louis Joseph Vance
Mr Dorrit stood rooted to the carpet, a statue of mystification.
Little Dorrit
Charles Dickens

British Dictionary definitions for carpet

carpet

noun

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

a covering like a carpeta carpet of leaves

on the carpet informal

before authority to be reproved for misconduct or error
under consideration

verb -pets, -peting or -peted (tr)

to cover with or as if with a carpet

informal to reprimand

Word Origin for carpet

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

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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.

Idioms and Phrases with carpet

carpet

see call on the carpet; red carpet. Also see under rug.