Forms: 5 tappes, 6 Sc. tapeis, 7– tapis. [a. F. tapis, OF. tapiz (12th c.) = Sp., Pg. tapiz (pl. tapices):—pop. L. type *tappētium, for late L. tapētium (-ēcium), ad. Gr. ταπήτιον, dim. of τάπης (acc. τάπητα) cloth wrought with figures in various colors, tapestry.
Late L. tapētium might also be inferred from tapētia, pl. of cl. L. tapēte, neuter; L. had also tapēta pl., as from *tapētum, and tapētæ pl., as from *tapēta; also (immed. from Gr.) acc. sing. masc. tapēta, pl. tapētas, as from *tapēs masc. In later and med.L., Isidore has pl. tapēta; later forms cited by Du Cange are tapēcius, tapēsium (from tapētium), and tapētiæ pl. Beside the forms mentioned above, It. has tappeto, Sp. and Pg. tapete, Pr. tapit. From late L. and Rom. came also OE. tęped, tæpped, -et, and the cognate forms mentioned under TAPET.]
† a. A cloth worked with artistic designs in colors, used as a curtain, table-cloth, carpet, or the like.
1494. Fabyan, Chron., VI. cxli. 129. Beholde now this house, where are now the ryche tappes & clothis of golde.
1539. Inv. R. Wardrobe (1815), 50. Item four grete pece of tapis of Turque, off the quhilkis ane is of silk. Item fiftene litle tapis of Turque.
a. 1600. in Pinkerton, Anc. Scott. Poems (1786), I. 257. Thy beddis soft, and tapeis fair.
1800. J. Hurdis, Fav. Village, 134. What loom e’er furnish’d for imperial floor Tapis more rich, or grateful to the foot.
b. Phrase. On (upon) the tapis [from F. sur le tapis], on the table-cloth, under discussion or consideration. Cf. CARPET sb. 1 b.
1690. Clarendon, Diary, 2 May. Lord Churchill and Lord Godolphin went away, and gave no votes in the matter which was upon the tapis.
1782. Europ. Mag., I. 248. Several marriages are adjusted, and many others are on the tapis.
1809. Han. More, Cœlebs, II. xxxiv. 128. I had … been trying to bring Lucilla on the tapis.
1865. York Herald, 18 March. The question of the legitimate claimant has for a long time been upon the tapis.
1880. Manch. Guardian, 23 Nov. This view was held by Mr. Stansfield when his successor’s bill was on the tapis.
