different between carpet vs overlay

English

Etymology

From late Middle English carpete, from Old French carpite, from Medieval Latin carpita/Italian carpita, the past participle of Latin carpere (“to pluck”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?k??(?)p?t/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?k??p?t/
• Rhymes: -??(r)p?t

Noun

carpet (countable and uncountable, plural carpets)

1. A fabric used as a complete floor covering.

   • A great bargain also had been the excellent Axminster carpet which covered the floor; as, again, the arm-chair in which Bunting now sat forward, staring into the dull, small fire.
2. (figuratively) Any surface or cover resembling a carpet or fulfilling its function.
   • 2009, Loren Long, ?Phil Bildner, Magic in the Outfield (page 47)

     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.

3. Any of a number of moths in the geometrid subfamily Larentiinae
4. (obsolete) A wrought cover for tables.

   • Tables and beds covered with copes instead of carpets and coverlets.

5. (slang, vulgar) A woman's pubic hair.

Usage notes

The terms carpet and rug are often used interchangeably, but various distinctions are drawn. Most often, a rug is loose and covers part of a floor, while a carpet covers most or all of the floor, and may be loose or attached, while a fitted carpet runs wall-to-wall.

Initially carpet referred primarily to table and wall coverings, today called tablecloth or tapestry – the use of the term for floor coverings dates to the 18th century, following trade with Persia.

Derived terms

Descendants

• ? Japanese: ????? (k?petto)

Translations

Further reading

• carpet on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Verb

carpet (third-person singular simple present carpets, present participle carpeting, simple past and past participle carpeted)

1. To lay carpet, or to have carpet installed, in an area.

2. (transitive) To substantially cover something, as a carpet does; to blanket something.
   • 2017, Jennifer S. Holland, For These Monkeys, It’s a Fight for Survival., National Geographic (March 2017)[2]

     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. (Britain) To reprimand.
   • 1990, Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game, Folio Society 2010, p. 428:

     Even Colonel Yakov, so recently carpeted by St Petersburg, was reported to be back in the Pamirs.

   • 1992 June 24, Edwina Currie, Diary:

     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.

Translations

Anagrams

• cet. par., peract, preact

Latin

Verb

carpet

1. third-person singular future active indicative of carp?

English

Etymology 1

over- +? lay. Compare overlie.

Pronunciation

Verb

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: ?'v?-l??, IPA^(key): /???.v??le?/
• (General American) enPR: ?'v?r-l??, IPA^(key): /?o?v??le?/

Noun

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: ??v?-l?', IPA^(key): /???.v??le?/
• (General American) enPR: ??v?r-l?', IPA^(key): /?o?v??le?/
• Rhymes: -e?

Verb

overlay (third-person singular simple present overlays, present participle overlaying, simple past and past participle overlaid or overlayed)

1. (transitive) To lay, spread, or apply something over or across; cover.
2. To overwhelm; to press excessively upon.
   • c. 1610?, Walter Raleigh, A Discourse of War

     when any country is overlaid by the multitude which live upon it

3. (transitive, now rare, archaic) To lie over (someone, especially a child) in order to smother it; to suffocate. [from 14th c.]
   • 1692, John Dryden, Cleomenes, the Spartan Hero, a Tragedy

     a heap of ashes that o'erlays your fire

   • 1993, Pat Barker, The Eye in the Door, Penguin 2014 (The Regeneration Trilogy), p. 371:

     Prostitutes, thieves, girls who ‘overlaid’ their babies, abortionists who stuck their knitting needles into something vital – did they really need to be here?

4. (transitive, printing) To put an overlay on.

Translations

Noun

overlay (plural overlays)

1. (printing) A piece of paper pasted upon the tympan sheet to improve the impression by making it stronger at a particular place.
2. (gambling) Odds which are set higher than expected or warranted. Favorable odds.
3. (horse racing) A horse going off at higher odds than it appears to warrant, based on its past performances.
4. A decal attached to a computer keyboard to relabel the keys.
5. (programming) A block of program code that is loaded over something previously loaded, so as to replace the functionality.
6. (Internet) A pop-up covering an existing part of the display.
7. (Scotland) A cravat.

Translations

Etymology 2

Verb

overlay

1. simple past tense of overlie

Anagrams

• lay over, layover