carpet

Etymology

From late Middle English carpette, from Old French carpite, from Medieval Latin carpita/Italian carpita, introduced in the 13th century by the Florentines from the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, from Middle Armenian կարպետ (karpet, “carpet, rug”), earlier կապերտ (kapert).

noun

1. A fabric used as a complete floor covering.
   The railways are anxious to refurbish their stations and rolling stock when they can get labour and materials, although it is unlikely that they contemplate deep carpets in wayside waiting rooms. Lack of carpets at present is not confined to railways, and roaring fires in the present fuel scarcity would probably be considered anti-social in wayside waiting rooms. 1946 March and April, “State Railway Dreams”, in Railway Magazine, page 67
   The half-dozen pieces […] were painted white and carved with festoons of flowers, birds and cupids. To display them the walls had been tinted a vivid blue which had now faded, but the carpet, which had evidently been stored and recently relaid, retained its original turquoise. 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 1, in The China Governess
2. (figurative) Any surface or cover resembling a carpet or fulfilling its function.
   Way deep in left field, where the carpet of green sloped upward to a terrace and greeted the thick line of trees, he reached out his glove. 2009, Loren Long, Phil Bildner, Magic in the Outfield, page 47
3. Any of a number of moths in the geometrid subfamily Larentiinae
4. (obsolete) A wrought cover for tables.
5. (slang, vulgar) A woman's pubic hair.

verb

1. To lay carpet, or to have carpet installed, in an area.
   After the fire, they carpeted over the blackened hardwood flooring.
   The builders were carpeting in the living room when Zadie inspected her new house.
2. (transitive) To substantially cover something, as a carpet does; to blanket something.
   Popcorn and candy wrappers carpeted the floor of the cinema.
   2017, Jennifer S. Holland, For These Monkeys, It’s a Fight for Survival., National Geographic (March 2017)http://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2017/03/macaques-monkeys-indonesia-endangered-pet-trade/ The town of Tompasobaru, a six-hour drive from Tangkoko, is known for the fragrant cloves that carpet the front yards of homes, drying on tarps in the sun. But in the town’s open market, the air hung heavy with the metallic smell of the butcher’s wares.
3. (UK) To reprimand.
   Even Colonel Yakov, so recently carpeted by St Petersburg, was reported to be back in the Pamirs. 1990, Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game, Folio Society, published 2010, page 428
   At 4pm, the phone went. It was The Sun: 'We hear your daughter's been expelled for cheating at her school exams...' She'd made a remark to a friend at the end of the German exam and had been pulled up for talking. As they left the exam room, she muttered that the teacher was a 'twat'. He heard and flipped—a pretty stupid thing to do, knowing the kids were tired and tense after exams. Instead of dropping it, the teacher complained to the Head and Deb was carpeted. June 24 1992, Edwina Currie, Diary