Carpet-beetle
any of several small beetles of the family Dermestidae, the larvae of which are household pests, feeding on rugs and other woolen fabrics, especially Anthrenus scrophulariae (buffalo carpet beetle) and Attagenus piceus (black carpet beetle)
Historical Examples
And there’s the carpet-beetle, whose babies eat carpets unless your mother tempts them with pieces of red flannel.
Little Busybodies Jeanette Augustus Marks and Julia Moody
noun
any of various beetles of the genus Anthrenus, the larvae of which feed on carpets, furnishing fabrics, etc: family Dermestidae
Read Also:
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- Carpet bowling
noun a form of bowls played indoors on a strip of carpet, at the centre of which lies an obstacle round which the bowl has to pass
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either of two grasses, Axonopus affinis or A. compressus, native to tropical and subtropical America.
- Carpet-moth
a clothes moth, Trichophaga tapetzella, the larvae of which infest carpets and other woolen articles. noun any of several geometrid moths with black- (or brown-)and-white mottled wings
- Carpet muncher
noun a lesbian Word Origin 1992 Usage Note derogatory slang