▪ I. carp, n.1
(kɑːp)
Also 5–7 carpe. Pl. carp, formerly carps.
[a. OF. carpe (Sp. carpa):—late L. carpa (Brachet cites Cassiodorus a 575 ‘destinet carpam Danubius’). The same name (modified in termination, etc.) appears in Romanic, Celtic, Teutonic, and Slavonic: cf. esp. OHG. charpho, MLG. karpe masc. pointing to a possible WGer. *karpo. But the original source is unknown.]
1. A freshwater fish, Cyprinus carpio, the type of the family Cyprinidæ; introduced into England as early as the 14th c., and commonly bred in ponds.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 62 Carpe, fysche, carpus. 1462 Mann. & Househ. Exp. 561 My master putte into the said ponde, in gret carpes, xxj. 1584 R. Scot Disc. Witchcr. xiii. x. 248 A bone taken out of a carps head, stancheth bloud. 1653 Walton Angler i. ix, The Carp is the Queen of Rivers: a stately, a good, and a very subtle fish. 1718 Lady M. W. Montague Lett. liv. II. 80 In the fish ponds are kept tame Carp, said to be, some of them, eighty years of age. 1770 White Selborne xl. 103 In this water are many carps. 1854 Badham Halieut. 257 That singular fleshy palate which is popularly but incorrectly known all over the world as carp's tongue. 1867 F. Francis Angling iii. (1880) 84 In rivers carp bite more boldly than in ponds. |
2. Applied to other species of the genus Cyprinus, or family Cyprinidæ, to which belong the Gold and Silver Fish, the Prussian or Crucian Carp (C. gibelio), the Norwegian Carp (Scarpæna norvegica), and others.
| 1786 White Selborne xcviii, Gold and silver fishes..Linnæus ranks..under the genus of cyprinus or carp. 1847 Carpenter Zool. §567 The Cyprinidæ or Carp tribe. 1883 Fisheries Exhib. Catal. (ed. 4) 107 Collection of Stuffed..Carp, Crucian Carp, Gold Carp. |
3. Comb. carp-louse, a name for small crustaceans of the family Argulidæ, parasitic on fishes; cf. fish-louse.
| 1678–1706 Phillips, Carp-stone, a triangular stone found in the chop of a carp, white without and yellow within. 1889 in Cent. Dict. 1909 J. J. Lister in A. Sedgwick Textbk. Zool. III. 410 Carp-lice. Copepods with large compound eyes. 1931 J. R. Norman Hist. Fishes xx. 417 Mention may also be made of the so-called Carp Louse (Argulus), another Crustacean parasite. |
▪ II. carp, n.2
[f. carp v.1]
† a. Discourse. Obs. rare. † b. Power of speech. Obs. rare. c. Carping speech, cavil (with play on carp n.1).
| c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. A. 882 In sounande notez a gentyl carpe. Ibid. B. 23 Kryst kydde hit hymself in a carp onez. Ibid. B. 1327 Þat he ful clanly bi-cuv-er his carp bi þe laste. 1618 G. Mynshul Ess. Prison 1st Ep. Ded. i, Carpes haue bin good cheap this Lent, for I haue had more than I desired for nothing. 1904 Westm. Gaz. 9 May 4/1 Criticism—what a lady I know calls ‘the carpers carping with their carps’. 1922 F. Scott Fitzgerald Let. Jan. (1964) 331 But one more carp before I close. 1967 Observer 24 Oct. 25/2, I have one carp, however. His own performance..tends to become confusing. |
¶ Associated with cark.
| 1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Mark viii. 57 a, Their vayne and superfluous carpe and care. |
▪ III. carp, v.1
(kɑːp)
Also 4 karp, 5 karpe, 4–7 carpe.
[Senses 1–3, chiefly in northern poetry (especially in alliterative verse), were probably a. ON. karpa to brag; but the later prose senses 4–6 appear to be derived from, or influenced by, L. carpĕre to pluck, fig. to slander, calumniate. The ulterior history of the ON. word is uncertain.]
† 1. intr. To speak, talk. Obs.
| a 1240 Wohunge in Cott. Hom. 287 Carpe toward ihesu and seie þise wordes. a 1300 Cursor M. App. Resurrect. 388 Als þai come narre þe castelle, to-geder carpand. c 1400 Destr. Troy 829 The Kyng þan full curtesly karpes agayne. 1420 Siege Rouen 1235 in Archæol. XXII. 381 Vnnethe thay myȝt brethe or carpe. 1470 Harding Chron. Proem. x, Leonell..that wedded..The erles daughter of Vister, as man do Karpe. 1570 Levins Manip. 33/3 To carpe, talke, colloqui, confabulari. 1575 Turberv. Bk. Falconrie Epil. Aa iij, To carpe it fine with those that haue no guile. |
† b. To discourse of, in speech or writing. Obs.
| 1350 Will. Palerne 216 Þe kowherdes bestes i carped of bi-fore. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xxii. 199 Thus conscience of crist and of þe croys carpede. c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. iii. Prol. 26 (Jam.) Of thame..Carpe we bot lityl. a 1605 Montgomerie Flyting 575 Of his conditions to carp for a while. |
† 2. trans. To speak, utter, say, tell. Obs.
| 1350 Will. Palerne 503 To karp þe soþe. 1393 Gower Conf. III. 325 To carpe Proverbes and demaundes sligh. c 1400 Destr. Troy 4610 When Calcas his counsell had carpit to the end. 1515 Sc. Field 73 in Furniv. Percy Folio I. 216 Our Knight full [of] courage carpeth these words. |
† 3. intr. To sing or recite (as a minstrel); to sing (as a bird). Obs.
| c 1425 Thomas of Erceld. 313 ‘To harpe or carpe, whare⁓so þou gose, Thomas, þou sall hafe þe chose sothely’: And he saide ‘harpynge kepe I none, For tonge es chefe of mynstralsye’. 1515 Barclay Egloges iv. (1570) C iv/2 In goodly ditie or balade for to carpe. a 1528 Skelton Agst. comely Coyst. 13 In his gamut carp he can. c 1570 Thynne Pride & Lowl. (1841) 8 Many was the bird did sweetly carpe Among the thornes. 1802 Lochmaben Harper vii. in Scott Minstr. Scott. Bord. (1869) 94 Then aye he harped, and aye he carped Till a' the lordlings footed the floor. |
† 4. Vituperatively: To talk much, to prate, chatter. Cf. carper. Obs.
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. x. 69 Clerkes..carpen of god faste, and haue [him] moche in þe mouthe. a 1528 Skelton Col. Cloute 549 Some..Clatter & carpe Of that heresy. 1530 Palsgr. 476/1, I carpe (Lydgate), Je carquette..This is a farre northen verbe. 1557 Praise Maistr. Ryce in Tottel's Misc. (Arb.) 202 Came Curiousness and carped out of frame. |
5. spec. To talk querulously, censoriously, or captiously; to find fault, cavil. (The current sense.)
(Certain examples of this before the 16th c. are wanting: the early ones may have merely the sense of 1 with contextual colouring. Cf. carper.)
| [1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. x. 286 Abasshed To blame yow or to greve, And carpen noght as they carpe now, Ne calle yow dumbe houndes. 1401 Pol. Poems (1859) II. 77 Thou carpist also of oure coveitise, and sparist the sothe. 1515 Barclay Egloges i. (1570) A j, Some in Satyres against vices dare carpe.] 1548 Soul John-Nobody in Strype Cranmer (1694) App. 139 They will currishly carp. 1561 T. Norton Calvin's Inst. i. xiii. (1634) 49 Servetto carpeth, that God did beare the person of an Angell. 1655 Digges Compl. Ambass. 377 The King..carpeth upon the marriage. a 1677 Barrow Serm. Malice of Soc., In carping and harshly censuring..their neighbours. 1785 Burns 2nd Ep. Lapraik, Ne'er grudge an' carp, Tho' fortune use you hard an' sharp. 1863 Mrs. C. Clarke Shaks. Char. xv. 386 The bulk of society did not assemble to carp and to cavil. |
b. Const. at.
| 1586 Thynne Contn. Holinshed Pref., Curiouslie carping at my barrennes in writing. 1794 Burke Corr. IV. 235 That faction and malice may not be able to carp at it. 1879 M. Arnold Falkland Mixed Ess. 207 We will not carp at this great writer. |
† 6. trans. To find fault with, reprehend, take exception to. Obs.
| 1550 Cranmer Sacrament 100 a, Whiche my saiyng diuers ignorant persones..did carpe and reprehende. 1582 N. T. (Rhem.) Luke vii. marg., The Pharisees did alwaies carpe Christ. 1598 R. Grenewey Tacitus Ann. v. ii. (1622) 117 Couertly carping the Consull Fufius. 1605 Camden Rem. (1637) 230 Carping whatsoever hath been done or said heretofore. 1678 R. Barclay Apol. Quakers iii. §vii. 87 Our Adversaries shall have nothing from thence to carp. |
† 7. intr. (?) To censure; to judge, discriminate.
| 1591 Troub. Raigne K. John (1611) 21 Any one that knoweth how to carpe, Will scarcely iudge us both one countrey borne. |
† 8. (?) To contend, fight. Obs. rare.
| 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. I. 606 With brandis bricht that scherand wer and scharp So cruellie togidder did tha carp. |
¶ Associated with cark, q.v.
| c 1465 Chevy Chace ii. 135 Tivydale may carpe off care. 1522 World & Child in Hazl. Dodsley I. 267 Ever he is carping of care. 1670 G. H. Hist. Cardinals i. ii. 49 Poor drudgeing..Priests that carp and moyl all day long. 1702 Eng. Theophrast. 312 Carping for the unprofitable goods of this world. |
▪ IV. carp, v.2
[? ad. L. carpĕre to pluck, card.]
(See quot.) Hence carper, carping vbl. n.
| 1835 Ure Philos. Manuf. 202 The business to which children are first put in this business is carping; that is, preparing thistle-teasels for the workman, who fits them into the rods and handles for dressing the cloth. The little carpers sit at this easy work. |