-trē, -tri noun
( -es )
Etymology: Middle English tapistry, tapstery, modification of Middle French tapisserie, from tapisser to furnish with a carpet, cover with tapestry (from Old French tapis, tapiz carpet, carpeting, from Greek tapēt-, tapēs carpet, rug, probably of Iranian origin) + -ie -y; akin to Persian tābīdan to turn, spin; akin to Lithuanian tempti to stretch — more at temporal
1.
a. : a heavy handwoven textile for hangings, curtains, and upholstery made either by the low-warp or high-warp method and usually with a wool, linen, or cotton warp and with wool, silk, and metal threads in the weft with the warp threads set out on the loom for the width of the fabric and the weft threads loosely inserted by hand over and under the warp threads and pressed down to cover the warp threads completely and characterized by complicated pictorial designs that are the same on both sides except for the ends of threads showing on the back as a result of the weft threads being used not from selvage to selvage but only in the limited area of each separate color and being joined to other weft threads by interlocking or dovetailing or left unjoined leaving a slit — see gobelin
b. : a nonreversible conventionalized imitation of tapestry made usually of wool, cotton, and rayon on a jacquard loom and used chiefly for upholstery
c. : embroidery on canvas resembling the woven tapestry
needlepoint tapestry
2. : tapestry carpet