tapis
[tap-ee, tap-is, ta-pee]
- Obsolete. a carpet, tapestry, or other covering.
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- on the tapis, under consideration or discussion: A new housing development for that area is on the tapis.
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Origin of tapis
1485–95; < Middle French; Old French tapiz ≪ Greek tapḗtion little carpet, equivalent to tapēt- (stem of tápēs) carpet + -ion diminutive suffix
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for tapis
Contemporary Examples
“I hear that a new order of Knighthood is on the tapis,” the letter reads.
Historical Examples
Apropos, how do you like this thought in a ballad I have just now on the tapis?
The Letters of Robert BurnsRobert Burns
I immediately placed the Colonel's broken head upon the tapis.
The Room in the Dragon VolantJ. Sheridan LeFanu
Hanover was then on the tapis, and the King felt the allusion.
Diary And Notes Of Horace Templeton, Esq.Charles James Lever
She gave them quite a while, for she was chatting with the girls about some weddings on the tapis.
A Little Girl in Old SalemAmanda Minnie Douglas
Dubois, on the first opportunity, brought it again on the tapis.
The ConspiratorsAlexandre Dumas (Pere)
tapis
- tapestry or carpeting, esp as formerly used to cover a table in a council chamber
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Word Origin
C17: from French, from Old French tapiz, from Greek tapētion rug, from tapēs carpet
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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