Car″pet (kär″pĕt), n. [OF. carpite rug, soft of cloth, F. carpette coarse packing cloth, rug (cf. It. carpita rug, blanket), LL. carpeta, carpita, woolly cloths, fr. L. carpere to pluck, to card (wool); cf. Gr. καρπόσ fruit, E. Harvest.] 1. A heavy woven or felted fabric, usually of wool, but also of cotton, hemp, straw, etc.; esp. a floor covering made in breadths to be sewed together and nailed to the floor, as distinguished from a rug or mat; originally, also, a wrought cover for tables.
Tables and beds covered with copes instead of carpets and coverlets.
T. Fuller.
2. A smooth soft covering resembling or suggesting a carpet. “The grassy carpet of this plain.” Shak.
Carpet beetleorCarpet bug(Zoöl.), a small beetle (Anthrenus scrophulariæ), which, in the larval state, does great damage to carpets and other woolen goods; — also called buffalo bug. — Carpet knight. (a) A knight who enjoys ease and security, or luxury, and has not known the hardships of the field; a hero of the drawing room; an effeminate person. Shak. (b) One made a knight, for some other than military distinction or service. — Carpet moth(Zoöl.), the larva of an insect which feeds on carpets and other woolen goods. There are several kinds. Some are the larvæ of species of Tinea (as T. tapetzella); others of beetles, esp. Anthrenus. — Carpet snake(Zoöl.), an Australian snake. See Diamond snake, under Diamond. — Carpet sweeper, an apparatus or device for sweeping carpets. — To be on the carpet, to be under consideration; to be the subject of deliberation; to be in sight; — an expression derived from the use of carpets as table cover. — Brussels carpet. See under Brussels.