carpet

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
carpet/ˈkɑːpɪt/

▶noun

• 1 a floor covering made from thick woven fabric.

  ■ a large rug.

• 2 a thick or soft expanse or layer: a carpet of bluebells.

• 3 used in names of geometrid moths with variegated wings.

▶verb (carpets, carpeting, carpeted)

• 1 cover with a carpet.

• 2 Brit. informal reprimand severely.

– phrases
on the carpet informal being severely reprimanded by someone in authority. [from carpet referring to the covering of the table before which one would be summoned for reprimand.]
sweep something under the carpet conceal or ignore a problem or difficulty in the hope that it will be forgotten.

– derivatives
carpeting noun.

– origin ME (denoting a thick fabric used as a cover for a table or bed): from OFr. carpite or med. L. carpita, from obs. Ital. carpita ‘woollen counterpane’, based on L. carpere ‘pluck, pull to pieces’.