Part 87

Carp"er (?), n. One who carps; a caviler. Shak.

Car"pet (kńr"p&ebreve;t), 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. karpo`s 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 beetle or Carpet bug (Zo÷l.), a small beetle (Anthrenus scrophulariŠ), 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 (Zo÷l.), the larva of an insect which feeds on carpets and other woolen goods. There are several kinds. Some are the larvŠ of species of Tinea (as T. tapetzella); others of beetles, esp. Anthrenus. -- Carpet snake (Zo÷l.), 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.

Car"pet, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Carpeted; p. pr. & vb. n. Carpeting.] To cover with, or as with, a carpet; to spread with carpets; to furnish with a carpet or carpets.

Carpeted temples in fashionable squares. E. Everett.

Car"pet*bag` (?), n. A portable bag for travelers; -- so called because originally made of carpet.

Car"pet*bag`ger (?), n. An adventurer; -- a term of contempt for a Northern man seeking private gain or political advancement in the southern part of the United States after the Civil War (1865). [U. S.]

Car"pet*ing, n. 1. The act of covering with carpets.

2. Cloth or materials for carpets; carpets, in general.

The floor was covered with rich carpeting. Prescott.

Car"pet*less, a. Without a carpet.

Car"pet*mon`ger (?), n. 1. One who deals in carpets; a buyer and seller of carpets.

2. One fond of pleasure; a gallant. Shak.

Car"pet*way` (?), n. (Agric.) A border of greensward left round the margin of a plowed field. Ray.

Car*phol"o*gy (kńr*f&obreve;l"&osl;*j&ybreve;), n. [Gr. ka`rfos any small dry body + -logy: cf. F. carphologie.] (Med.) See Floccillation.

Carp"ing (kńrp"&ibreve;ng), a. Fault-finding; censorious caviling. See Captious.

-- Carp"ing*ly, adv.

||Car`pin*te"ro (kńr`p&esl;n*t&asl;"r&osl;), n. [Sp., a carpenter, a woodpecker.] A california woodpecker (Melanerpes formicivorus), noted for its habit of inserting acorns in holes which it drills in trees. The acorns become infested by insect larvŠ, which, when grown, are extracted for food by the bird.

Car`po*gen"ic (kńr`p&osl;*j&ebreve;n"&ibreve;k), a. [Gr. karpo`s fruit + - gen.] (Bot.) Productive of fruit, or causing fruit to be developed.

Car"po*lite (kńr"p&osl;*līt), n. [Gr. karpo`s fruit + - lite, cf. F. carpolithe.] A general term for a fossil fruit, nut, or seed.

Car`po*log"i*cal (?), a. Of or pertaining to carpology.

Car*pol"o*gist (?), n. One who describes fruits; one versed in carpology.

Car*pol"o*gy (?), n. [Gr. karpo`s fruit + -logy.] That branch of botany which relates to the structure of seeds and fruit.

Car*poph"a*gous (?), a. [Gr. karpo`s fruit + &?; to eat.] Living on fruits; fruit-consuming.

Car"po*phore (?), n. [Gr. karpo`s fruit + &?; to bear.] (Bot.) A slender prolongation of the receptacle as an axis between the carpels, as in Geranium and many umbelliferous plants.

Car"po*phyll (?), n. [Gr. karpo`s fruit + &?; leaf.] (Bot.) A leaf converted into a fruit or a constituent portion of a fruit; a carpel. [See Illust. of Gymnospermous.]