tapis

[tap-ee, tap-is, ta-pee]

noun, plural tap·is.

Obsolete. a carpet, tapestry, or other covering.

Idioms

on the tapis, under consideration or discussion: A new housing development for that area is on the tapis.

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 of tapis

“I hear that a new order of Knighthood is on the tapis,” the letter reads.
The Oxford English Dictionary: The Original Crowdsourcer
Josh Dzieza
April 29, 2013

Historical Examples of tapis

Apropos, how do you like this thought in a ballad I have just now on the tapis?
The Letters of Robert Burns
Robert Burns
I immediately placed the Colonel's broken head upon the tapis.
The Room in the Dragon Volant
J. 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 Salem
Amanda Minnie Douglas
Dubois, on the first opportunity, brought it again on the tapis.
The Conspirators
Alexandre Dumas (Pere)

British Dictionary definitions for tapis

tapis

noun plural tapis

tapestry or carpeting, esp as formerly used to cover a table in a council chamber

Word Origin for tapis

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 Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012