I. ˈkärpə̇t, ˈkȧp-, usu -ə̇d.+V noun
( -s )
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English carpete, from Middle French carpite, from Old Italian carpita, from carpire to pluck, modification of Latin carpere — more at harvest
1. : a heavy woven or felted fabric usually made of wool: as
a. : a floor covering made in breadths to be sewed together and tacked to the floor — see oriental rug ; compare rug
b. obsolete : a thick wrought fabric used for covering tables or beds ; specifically : an altar covering
c. archaic : a luxurious floor covering found especially in boudoirs — now used only attributively to convey the notion of effeminacy
a carpet poet
— see carpet knight
2.
a. : a surface resembling or suggesting a carpet (as in smoothness or softness)
the grassy carpet of the plain — Shakespeare
b. : the surface of a cricket field
a carpet drive
3.
a. : a thin skin of boards laid as a wearing surface on a floor
b. chiefly Britain : a thin layer of resurfacing material (as asphalt) covering a previously paved roadway
•
- on the carpet
II. transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
1.
a. : to furnish with a carpet : spread with carpets
the floors were carpeted — Al Spiers
b. : to cover as if with a carpet
flowers carpet the streets — Claudia Cassidy
2. chiefly Britain : to take to task : reprimand
if the chap's a casualty and anything happens, we might be carpeted — Richard Llewellyn