Car·pet n.
 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.”
 Carpet beetle or Carpet bug Zool., 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 Zool., 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 Tinea tapetzella); others of beetles, esp. Anthrenus.
 Carpet snake Zool., 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.


 Di·a·mond n.
 1. A precious stone or gem excelling in brilliancy and beautiful play of prismatic colors, and remarkable for extreme hardness.
 Note: ☞ The diamond is native carbon in isometric crystals, often octahedrons with rounded edges. It is usually colorless, but some are yellow, green, blue, and even black. It is the hardest substance known. The diamond as found in nature (called a rough diamond) is cut, for use in jewelry, into various forms with many reflecting faces, or facets, by which its brilliancy is much increased. See Brilliant, Rose. Diamonds are said to be of the first water when very transparent, and of the second or third water as the transparency decreases.
 2. A geometrical figure, consisting of four equal straight lines, and having two of the interior angles acute and two obtuse; a rhombus; a lozenge.
 3. One of a suit of playing cards, stamped with the figure of a diamond.
 4. Arch. A pointed projection, like a four-sided pyramid, used for ornament in lines or groups.
 5. Baseball The infield; the square space, 90 feet on a side, having the bases at its angles.
 6. Print. The smallest kind of type in English printing, except that called brilliant, which is seldom seen.
 Note: ☞ This line is printed in the type called Diamond.
 Black diamond, coal; Min. See Carbonado.
 Bristol diamond. See Bristol stone, under Bristol.
 Diamond beetle Zool., a large South American weevil (Entimus imperialis), remarkable for its splendid luster and colors, due to minute brilliant scales.
 Diamond bird Zool., a small Australian bird (Pardalotus punctatus, family Ampelidæ.). It is black, with white spots.
 Diamond drill Engin., a rod or tube the end of which is set with black diamonds; -- used for perforating hard substances, esp. for boring in rock.
 Diamond finch Zool., a small Australian sparrow, often kept in a cage. Its sides are black, with conspicuous white spots, and the rump is bright carmine.
 Diamond groove Iron Working, a groove of V-section in a roll.
 Diamond mortar Chem., a small steel mortar used for pulverizing hard substances.
 Diamond-point tool, a cutting tool whose point is diamond-shaped.
 Diamond snake Zool., a harmless snake of Australia (Morelia spilotes); the carpet snake.
 Glazier's diamond, a small diamond set in a glazier's tool, for cutting glass.