Library / English Dictionary

CARPET

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Floor covering consisting of a piece of thick heavy fabric (usually with nap or pile)

Synonyms:

carpet; carpeting; rug

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("carpet" is a kind of...):

floor cover; floor covering (a covering for a floor)

furnishing ((usually plural) the instrumentalities (furniture and appliances and other movable accessories including curtains and rugs) that make a home (or other area) livable)

Meronyms (parts of "carpet"):

edging (border consisting of anything placed on the edge to finish something (such as a fringe on clothing or on a rug))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "carpet"):

broadloom (a carpet woven on a wide loom to obviate the need for seams)

Brussels carpet (a carpet with a strong linen warp and a heavy pile of colored woolen yarns drawn up in uncut loops to form a pattern)

drugget (a rug made of a coarse fabric having a cotton warp and a wool filling)

flying carpet ((Asian folktale) an imaginary carpet that will fly people anywhere they wish to go)

hearthrug (a rug spread out in front of a fireplace)

Kurdistan (an oriental rug woven by Kurds that is noted for fine colors and durability)

nammad; numdah; numdah rug (an embroidered rug made from a coarse Indian felt)

prayer mat; prayer rug (a small rug used by Muslims during their devotions)

red carpet (a strip of red carpeting laid down for dignitaries to walk on)

runner (a long narrow carpet)

scatter rug; throw rug (a small rug; several can be used in a room)

shag rug (a rug with long pile)

stair-carpet (a strip of carpet for laying on stairs)

Wilton; Wilton carpet (a carpet woven on a Jacquard loom with loops like a Brussels carpet but having the loops cut to form a close velvety pile)

Derivation:

carpet (cover with a carpet)

carpet (cover completely, as if with a carpet)

carpet (form a carpet-like cover (over))

Sense 2

Meaning:

A natural object that resembles or suggests a carpet

Example:

the larvae of some moths spin a web that resembles a carpet

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Hypernyms ("carpet" is a kind of...):

natural object (an object occurring naturally; not made by man)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Cover with a carpet

Example:

carpet the floors of the house

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "carpet" is one way to...):

cover (provide with a covering or cause to be covered)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

carpet; carpeting (floor covering consisting of a piece of thick heavy fabric (usually with nap or pile))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Cover completely, as if with a carpet

Example:

flowers carpeted the meadows

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "carpet" is one way to...):

cover (provide with a covering or cause to be covered)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Sentence example:

The wind storms carpet the area with dust and dirt

Derivation:

carpet (floor covering consisting of a piece of thick heavy fabric (usually with nap or pile))

Sense 3

Meaning:

Form a carpet-like cover (over)

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "carpet" is one way to...):

cover; spread over (form a cover over)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Sentence example:

Dust and dirt carpet the area

Derivation:

carpet (floor covering consisting of a piece of thick heavy fabric (usually with nap or pile))

Credits

 Context examples: 

He lit the two candles which stood upon the mantelpiece, and then he proceeded to turn back the corner of the carpet in the neighbourhood of the door.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

On and on they walked, and it seemed that the great carpet of deadly flowers that surrounded them would never end.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

If I have spoken once to Rebecca about that carpet, I am sure I have spoke at least a dozen times; have not I, Betsey?

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

This was approached by four steps carpeted with the same material, while all round were scattered rich cushions, oriental mats and costly rugs of fur.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He looked at Poole, and then back at the paper, and last of all at the dead malefactor stretched upon the carpet.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

In many places the ground was absolutely covered with them, and as we walked ankle-deep on that wonderful yielding carpet, the scent was almost intoxicating in its sweetness and intensity.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Hair cells are spread across a flat surface called the basilar membrane, which is rolled like a carpet and tucked into a snail shell-shaped structure in the inner ear called the cochlea.

(Hearing different frequencies, NIH)

It is singular that I, who had never feared him in life, should be frightened at him now, and yet when I looked at him, and saw that all was motionless save the creeping stain upon the carpet, I was seized with a sudden foolish spasm of terror, and, catching up my knife, I fled swiftly and silently back to my own room, closing the panels behind me.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The walls were papered, the floor was carpeted; the windows were neither less perfect nor more dim than those of the drawing-room below; the furniture, though not of the latest fashion, was handsome and comfortable, and the air of the room altogether far from uncheerful.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

Having thus arranged my dwelling and carpeted it with clean straw, I retired, for I saw the figure of a man at a distance, and I remembered too well my treatment the night before to trust myself in his power.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)