carp

name

1. Initialism of Collegiate Association for the Research of Principles, a Unificationist organization.

noun

Etymology: The verb is derived from Middle English carpen, karpe (“to chat, converse, talk; to chatter, gossip; to ask; to cry out, wail; to find fault, carp; to relate, tell; to recite; to sing”), and then partly: * from Old Norse karpa (“to boast, brag; to dispute, quarrel”), further etymology unknown; and * from, or influenced by, Latin carpere, the present active infinitive of carpō (“to harvest, pick, pluck; to criticize, revile, slander, carp at”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kerp- (“to harvest, pluck”). The noun is derived from the verb. (Middle English carp, karp (“conversation, discourse, talking; spoken or written message or statement; meaning; news; poem; song; story”), from Old Norse karp (“bragging”), did not survive into modern English.)

1. An instance of, or speech, complaining or criticizing about a fault, especially for frivolous or petty reasons; a cavil.

verb

Etymology: The verb is derived from Middle English carpen, karpe (“to chat, converse, talk; to chatter, gossip; to ask; to cry out, wail; to find fault, carp; to relate, tell; to recite; to sing”), and then partly: * from Old Norse karpa (“to boast, brag; to dispute, quarrel”), further etymology unknown; and * from, or influenced by, Latin carpere, the present active infinitive of carpō (“to harvest, pick, pluck; to criticize, revile, slander, carp at”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kerp- (“to harvest, pluck”). The noun is derived from the verb. (Middle English carp, karp (“conversation, discourse, talking; spoken or written message or statement; meaning; news; poem; song; story”), from Old Norse karp (“bragging”), did not survive into modern English.)

1. To criticize or complain about a fault, especially for frivolous or petty reasons; to cavil.

   “Here agayne Seruetto carpeth, yͭ God did beare the perſon of an Angel. As thoughe the Prophete did not confirme that whiche Moſes had ſaied: why doeſt thou aſke me of my name?”

   “Enuie vvhy carpeſt thou my time is ſpent ſo ill, / And termſt my vvorkes fruites of an idle quill.”

2. To speak, to talk; also, to talk about a subject in speech or writing.
3. To talk much but to little purpose; to chatter, to prattle.

   “And some of them barke, / Clatter and carpe / Of that heresy arte / Called Wicleuista, / The deuelysshe dogmatista; […]”

   “And therwithall came curiouſneſſe and carped out of frame. / The audience laught to heare the ſtrife as they beheld the ſame.”

4. Of a bird: to sing; of a person (such as a minstrel): to sing or recite.

   “Hys hart is to hy to haue any hap; / But for in his gamut carp that he can, / Lo, Jak wold be a jentylman!”

   “Then aye he harped, and aye he carped, / Till a' the Lordlings footed the floor; / But an' the music was sae sweet, / The groom had nae mind o' the stable door.”

5. To say or tell (something).
6. To find fault with (someone or something); to censure, to criticize.

   “Albeit I doe knovve they [the speeches] vvill lie open to the cenſure of the youth of our time, vvho for the moſt part, are ſo over-gulled vvith ſelf-liking, that they are more then giddy in admiring themſelves, and carping vvhatſoever hath beene done or ſaide heeretofore, Nevertheleſſe I hope that all are not of one humour, and doubt not, but that there is diverſitie of taſtes, as vvas among Horaces gueſts; […]”

   “[W]hen I ſpoke, / My honeſt homely vvords vvere carp'd, and cenſur'd, / For vvant of Courtly ſtile: […]”