Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To find fault in a disagreeable way; complain fretfully. See Synonyms at quibble.
- n. A fretful complaint.
- n. An edible freshwater fish (Cyprinus carpio) of Europe and Asia that is frequently bred in ponds and lakes.
- n. Any of various fishes of the family Cyprinidae.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To speak; tell.
- To talk; babble; chatter.
- To censure, cavil, or find fault, particularly without reason or petulantly: used absolutely or followed by at.
- To utter; speak.
- To blame; find fault with; chide.
- n. Speech; talk; conversation.
- n. A teleostean fish of the family Cyprinidæ, Cyprinus carpio. The normal form has a long compressed body, large scales (35 to 39 being along the lateral line), a long dorsal with a strong serrate spine and 17 to 22 rays, a short anal with 3 simple and 5 branched rays, and 4 barbels upon the upper jaw. It is said to have been introduced into England in the fourteenth century. It is an excellent fish for ponds, as it breeds rapidly, grows to a large size, sometimes attaining the length of 4 feet, and lives for many years. In old age its scales become gray and white. There are numerous varieties, the most notable being
- n. A fish related to the common carp. The best-known is the gold carp or goldfish, Carassius auratus. See cut under
goldfish . - n. A name on the northeast coast of Ireland for the common sea-bream, Pagellus centrodontus.
- n. An English name of the opah.
- n. In the United States, a carp-sucker; a catostomoid fish of the subfamily Ictiobinæ and genus Carpiodes.
- n. A name of various fishes of the genus Chilodactylus in Australia, New Zealand, and Tasmania. These fishes are not related to the European carp, which is a cyprinoid fish.
- To prepare teazels for the napping-machine for dressing woolen cloth.
Wiktionary
- n. Any of various freshwater fish of the family Cyprinidae, especially the common carp, Cyprinus carpio.
- v. To complain about a fault; to harp on.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. obsolete To talk; to speak; to prattle.
- v. To find fault; to cavil; to censure words or actions without reason or ill-naturedly; -- usually followed by
at . - v. obsolete To say; to tell.
- v. obsolete To find fault with; to censure.
- n. (Zoöl.) A fresh-water herbivorous fish (Cyprinus carpio.). Several other species of Cyprinus, Catla, and Carassius are called
carp . See cruclan carp.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the lean flesh of a fish that is often farmed; can be baked or braised
- v. raise trivial objections
- n. any of various freshwater fish of the family Cyprinidae
Etymologies
- From Old Norse karpa ("to boast"), karp ("bragging"). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English carpen, from Old Norse karpa, to boast.Middle English carpe, from Old French carpe, from Medieval Latin carpa, of Germanic origin. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“No I'm not kidding, on a worldwide basis, the carp is the most prized quarry.”
“So the carp is the #1 piscatorial prize in the rest of the world?”
“If we can get past the name 'carp' and the perception ... we can prove this is going to be a highly nutritious, cheap meal.”
“Thai eat Snake heads and carp is a Polish Christmas feast.”
“I've had smoked carp is fantastic any time of the year.”
“Don't ask if the carp is good enough for you to eat.”
“Last year, 41 two-person teams hauled in an amazing 36,282 pounds of carp from the banks of the Seneca River ....”
“I think a lot of the stigma attached to carp is the fact that they are so ugly.”
“I wrote about this a few years ago in our print edition, where I began by saying, Casting a fly for carp is like dragging a piece of fried chicken through the local seniors 'center.”
“The only disconcerting thing about carp is that they look like a lot of people I know.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘carp’.
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Visuals
A list of words which yield surprising, beautiful, amusing, or otherwise noteworthy images here on Wordnik.
photochrom, fufluns, thank you, cool l..., postcard, picture postcard, cricket, physiological ill..., Gakuryū Ishii, ametropia, One Froggy Evening, rhodopsin, Santiago Calatrava and 636 more...
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fish list
lots and lots of fish, a piscatorial
wetdreamablet, agnathan, ahi, ahuru, ahuruhuru, albacore, albicore, alec, alewife, allice, allis, amberjack and 840 more...
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animals (1 syllable)
A list of common animal names. Keep the list to 1 syllable words.No scientific names. No proper names like 'Fluffy' the elephant.Insects and other creatures (even ficticious) are welcome!You can ...
dog, cat, bear, bee, ass, ape, horse, squid, bug, hare, hawk, pig and 138 more...
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PECH - marine species
African cuttlefish, Alaska plaice, Alaska pollock, Alaska pollack, walleye pollock, alewife, gaspereau, river herring, sawbelly, allis shad, American angler, goosefish and 994 more...
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Carp
carp, carping, carpet, pilocarpine, parthenocarpy, carper, basidiocarp, acarpous, apocarpous, ascocarp, Brussels carpet, carpe diem and 104 more...
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The Pain of Texting
Words that are a pain in the ass to type in on a numerical keypad on a cell phone because they have consecutive letters that share the same button:
2 - ABC
3 - DEF
4 - GHI...defcon, hi, no, attitude, xylophone, on, monday, monkey, mono, dig, back, babble and 212 more...
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I would like to be reincarnated as...
the sound of a sl..., the light just af..., the flavor of a p..., a pelican, a thunderstorm, a philodendron, a swarm of honey ..., a pink pearl eraser, a woman, William Shatner, cat, crapicrap mightie... and 16 more...
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Censure (v.)
Someone must have had an inferiority complex.
vituperate, vilify, trounce, traduce, slander, scold, revile, reprove, reprimand, reprehend, remonstrate, rebuke and 37 more...
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list of foods to eat before you die
a special food in any culture
Venison, Huevos rancheros, Black pudding, Cheese fondue, maroons, strawberry cheescake, black forest cake, mushroom omlette, potato salad, Borscht, carp, Baba ghanoush and 15 more...
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SAT words
abase, abate, abet, abject, abjure, abrogate, abscond, abstruse, accolade, accommodating, accost, accretion and 202 more...
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Animals (besides pottos)
.
robin, wagtail, frog, bunny, pronk, rabbit, fur, badger, mouse, bee, crepuscular, purr and 140 more...
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Pests
Feral animals, invasive plants and other pests (in Australia).
tipborer, rabbit, planthopper, fox, spittlebug, camel, patterson's curse, froghopper, mimosa pigra, donkey, gamba grass, yellow crazy ant and 114 more...
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Words
teeter, headlong, reprobate, canard, ersatz, prevaricate, trenchant, minatory, fatuous, stultify, vitiate, fulminate and 135 more...
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Need to Know!
elicit, educe, refute, cogency, churlish, martinet, veritable, polyglot, dissemble, histrionics, prevarication, verbiage and 166 more...
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Notre Dame de Paris
From Notre Dame de Paris by good ole Victor Hugo. (Also called The Hunchback of Notre Dame.)
cuivres, diable, hawthorn, provost, epithalamium, affrighted, mendicants, vagrants, Styx, chimeras, coif, matagrabolise and 196 more...
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Words I Know
List of most of the words I've learned
garner, abase, abate, abdicate, abduct, aberration, abet, abhor, abide, abject, abjure, abnegation and 1046 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for carp.

madmouth there are such multitudes of carp in Hong Kong's various ponds and gardens that they teach one the unique pleasure of watching the serene yet vivid piscine ballet. Sep 16, 2009